


The Cat Tale

by SailorChibi



Series: 2020 Lovesquare Prompt Months [4]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Accidental Identity Reveal, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Finds Out First, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Identity Reveal, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Needs a Hug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir misses his lady, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hugs, Identity Reveal, Ladybug gets wished out of existence, Magic does things to everyone's heads, Marichat May, Marichat May 2020, Marichat | Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Identity Reveal, Oblivious Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Plagg Is So Done (Miraculous Ladybug), Platonic Marichat - Freeform, Protective Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Secret Identity Reveal, Supportive Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, little does he know his lady is right beside him, original akumatized character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:28:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 23,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23946952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorChibi/pseuds/SailorChibi
Summary: When an akuma erases Ladybug from reality, Chat is left floundering and trying to figure things out on his own. Luckily, his good friend Marinette is always willing to lend a hand.31 connected ficlets for Marichat May 2020.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Plagg, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: 2020 Lovesquare Prompt Months [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1619614
Comments: 686
Kudos: 1252





	1. Witch AU

**Author's Note:**

> You should know upfront that not every chapter of this story will have marichat. It's just not going to work with a cohesive story. The vast majority of their interactions will be as Marinette and Chat, that I can promise: there will be some Ladybug later on, but I'm gonna work as much marichat in as I'm capable of.
> 
> I'm going to do my best to keep up my stride with one part a day; we'll see how it goes.
> 
> A reminder that all of the chapter titles are actually prompts given by the Marichat May discord, and as such I have no control over them.

The blast of purple magic hits Chat in the face and sends him tumbling over the side of a building; he vaguely hears Ladybug screaming his name, but her voice cuts off before he hits the ground. The world seems to _swim_ upon impact even as Chat goes sprawling, finally ending up in an undignified heap about ten feet away from where he landed. Everything hurts.

“I… hate… Hawkmoth,” he groans, pushing himself up slowly. Today’s akuma is dressed exactly like a witch out of a Halloween story, and she has a real hatred for Ladybug. Chat’s been doing his best to protect his lady with mingled results, hoping to gain her the time she needs to enact a plan. She needs him, and so he gets to his feet and looks up at the building.

Nothing. No Ladybug and no akuma. Chat sighs and nimbly scales the building, hoisting himself up onto the roof. He’s opening his mouth to make a quip to Ladybug about how she can’t even give him a hand when he realizes that the roof is empty. His head swivels automatically, scanning the horizon for any sign of either akuma or Ladybug, but Paris looks as calm and peaceful as it did two hours ago before the akuma showed up.

“What?” he says under his breath, baffled. Then, louder, “Ladybug?”

It’s stupid to call out and he knows that, because if Ladybug is hiding from the akuma then that’s making himself a prime target, but Chat can’t help himself. He’s half-expecting another blast of magic for his stupidity, and even tenses for impact, but –

Nothing.

Increasingly bewildered, he retrieves his baton from where it landed on the other side of the roof and retracts it. He makes a call to Ladybug’s phone. It doesn’t ring through, just goes straight to a dull tone, which means she’s not transformed right now. That makes no sense. Ladybug hasn’t used her Lucky Charm yet, so there’s no reason for her to leave, and – he gingerly rubs his side – the battle can’t be over because she hasn’t cast her cure yet.

He walks over to the side of the building and looks down. While there’s no Ladybug, he does see a very welcome sight. Chat breathes a sigh of relief as he jumps down, landing right in front of Alya. To her credit, Alya doesn’t scream. She just grins excitedly and lifts her phone up, snapping a picture of Chat’s face. The flash is briefly blinding, and by the time he shakes it off he’s sure she’s taken another half a dozen pictures.

“Alya, stop,” he says finally, lifting a hand.

“Sorry, but these are going to look great online!” Alya says happily. “It’s so rare I get any close-ups of you!”

“Right,” Chat says with an amused shake of his head. “Did you happen to see which way the akuma went?”

“There’s an akuma?” Alya says, her eyebrows shooting up. “Where?!”

“You didn’t see it?” Chat says, shocked. He and Ladybug weren’t exactly being quiet about the fight. Alya is usually so good at ferreting out akuma; he can’t believe she missed it.

“I didn’t see anything!” Alya pouts. 

“Okay… then did see where My Lady went?” Chat asks.

“Your _who_?! Wait, are you dating someone?” Alya gasps.

“What? No! My Lady!” He looks at her confused face and frowns. “Ladybug?”

“Ladybug?” Alya repeats, wrinkling her nose. “Umm… sorry, I don’t know who that is. Is she a new teammate of yours?”

A _new teammate_? Chat just stares.

“I mean, we haven’t seen Queen Bee for a while, so I just assumed – but hey, that’s cool. Ladybug, huh?” Alya hums thoughtfully. “Do you think you could bring her by so I can get a picture? It would give me so many views!” She clasps her hands together in a begging position.

“You… you don’t know Ladybug?” Chat says, very slowly.

“Nope, sorry,” Alya says. 

Alya doesn’t know Ladybug. _Alya_ doesn’t know _Ladybug_. Those two facts do not compute in Chat’s mind.

“Umm… Chat? Are you okay?” Alya squeaks and grabs at his arm when Chat’s knees buckle.

“I think I need to sit down,” he says, gulping.


	2. Bell

Sitting down doesn’t help, but at least it means Chat is no longer in danger of embarrassing himself by falling over. Alya sits on the bench beside him and plays around with her phone. Even though it’s rude, he can’t stop himself from glancing over at her screen when he eventually realizes that she’s uploading the photos of him onto her blog. Right, the Ladyblog. Surely that –

“ _The Cat Tale_?!” Chat exclaims, grabbing Alya’s phone right out of her hands. Ignoring her indignant cry, he stares hard at the front page of the blog. Instead of the familiar blue eyes and sweet smile he’s used to seeing, it’s a banner of himself with the words “The Cat Tale” written in stylized green letters.

“Can I have my phone back?” Alya says, reaching over to grab her phone. But Chat can’t make himself let go, instead looking at Alya in disbelief.

“Where’s the Ladyblog?” he asks.

“The what?” Alya says blankly, wrenching her phone away.

“The… the Ladyblog…” Chat whispers. His head is spinning.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re being really weird. Did you like, hit your head or something?” Alya says.

“I sure hope so,” Chat says, bending forward to put his head between his knees. His bell jingles in his ears as he takes slow, deep breaths of air to keep himself from passing out. 

There’s a part of him that wants to think this is just a cruel joke, but he knows it’s not. Ladybug has a sense of humor, but there’s no way Alya would ever agree to give the Ladyblog a facelift like that. It’s the akuma, he realizes slowly. The akuma did something when it hit him with that last magical spell. Hadn’t it been saying something about getting rid of Ladybug?

“Hey Marinette, over here!”

“Hi Alya! Sorry I’m – whoa, what’s wrong with him?” 

“I’m starting to think this isn’t Chat Noir, but an akuma.”

“What?!” Chat bolts up right, offended. Alya’s eyeing him warily, having stood up when Marinette approached, but Marinette – sweet, kind Marinette – frowns worriedly when she sees his face.

“Chat, you’re so pale. Are you okay?” she asks, taking Alya’s seat and putting a hand on his arm.

Chat swallows, suddenly seized with an urge to put his head down on her shoulder and cry. Knowing Marinette, she would just gently pat his hat. But to do that would be impolite. He doesn’t want to scare Marinette the way he’s scared Alya. So instead, he forces a cocky smile on his face. That, at least, is something he’s good at, since he gets ample practice during his modelling jobs.

“I’m okay. Hey, Marinette, do you know who Ladybug is?” he asks, hoping against hope that she’ll nod. Marinette’s not a huge fan of Paris’s superheroes, but surely –

“Ladybug… hmm, sorry, that doesn’t ring a bell. Should it?” Marinette asks, cocking her head and looking at him with genuine confusion. Chat’s heart sinks straight through his stomach. 

“Oh, Mari, I think you made him cry,” Alya says. She’s got her phone up and pointed at them. Marinette notices too and scowls, holding up a hand to block the view.

“Alya, stop that. It’s rude,” she scolds before turning back to Chat. “I’m sorry. Is Ladybug a friend of yours? Can we help you find her? Is she missing?”

“She is, but I don’t think you can help,” Chat says. Marinette’s kindness is helping to make the panic recede, letting clarity seep in. This is definitely because of the akuma, which means there’s an easy fix –

“Are you sure? We don’t have anything important to do,” Marinette says.

“Hey, says you,” Alya objects.

“You mentioned Queen Bee. Do I have any other teammates?” Chat asks, glancing between them. Marinette and Alya exchange a long look, before finally Alya shakes her head.

“Nope, that’s it. Queen Bee is the only one,” she says.

If there’s no Ladybug, or at least no Ladybug-themed superhero, then Chat knows where he has to go. He gets up and says, “Thanks for your time, ladies, but this cat has got to run.”

“If you decide you want our help, just let us know!” Marinette calls, waving as he bounds away. Chat waves back with zero intention of ever taking her up on it, then turns and heads as fast as he can for Master Fu’s.


	3. Mouse

Chat lands behind Master Fu’s shop and takes a moment to catch his breath before whispering, “Claws in.”

“I’m staaaaarving,” Plagg whines as he tumbles out of the ring, then squeaks as Adrien grabs him and brings Plagg right up against his face.

“Plagg, please. _Please_ tell me you remember who Ladybug is,” Adrien begs.

Plagg blinks. “What? Of course I remember Pigtails. Adrien, what’s going on?”

The affirmation makes Adrien’s knees go weak again, this time with relief. He has to lean against the door to keep from falling. “Thank god. The akuma we were fighting did something. I think – I think it erased Ladybug.”

“What?!” Plagg exclaimed, considerably louder this time.

“Neither Alya nor Marinette remembers who Ladybug is,” Adrien says.

“Marinette? So she still – but she doesn’t – well shit,” Plagg mutters, more to himself than to Adrien. “That’s a first. But if the Black Cat miraculous still exists, the Ladybug miraculous does too. No akuma’s power would be enough to erase Tikki.”

Adrien breathes a little easier at that. “That’s why I came here to see Master Fu.”

“To do what?” Plagg says, staring at Adrien with an intense look. “You don’t know who Ladybug is.”

Adrien opens his mouth, then closes it as he realizes that Plagg is right. And even if he did know who his lady was, she doesn’t remember being a superhero right now. The uncomfortable realization that, except for Plagg, he’s truly alone right now seeps under his skin like an itch he can’t scratch. Without Ladybug, he can’t even rectify the situation. There’s no miraculous cure without her. Unless…

“I’ll just have to – to get the Ladybug miraculous and use it myself,” Adrien says, voice cracking slightly. He tries to hold himself together, clearing his throat. “I’ll draw the akuma out, defeat it, and cast the cure. That’ll put everything back to normal.”

“Well, your plan _might_ work,” Plagg says thoughtfully. “The akuma probably does still exist here; if they didn’t, the magic would run out and the world would snap back to normal. Hawkmoth must have wanted to do away with Ladybug in the hopes of making her miraculous easier to get. Would’ve been smarter to do away Chat Noir too, but I guess intelligence isn’t really Hawkmoth’s strong point…”

“Or he doesn’t think I’m worth doing away with,” Adrien says quietly. Hawkmoth wouldn’t be the first person to dismiss Chat Noir as nothing more than Ladybug’s sidekick, and he won’t be the last. Most of the time that label doesn’t bother Adrien, but right now it sits in his chest as a cold, hard lump. If he were a better partner, and people recognized him as being just as dangerous as Ladybug, perhaps Ladybug would still be here, and Chat would’ve been the one erased. He wishes that were the case.

“Then let’s show him how wrong he is!” Plagg says, slipping out of Adrien’s grasp. He phases through the door and a few seconds later, Adrien hears a click. The doorknob gives easily under his fingertips when he tries it, and he steps through into a small kitchenette.

“Master Fu?” Adrien calls out, feeling a little guilty about intruding. Perhaps he should’ve gone around to the front of the shop…

“I’ll be right with you, Adrien!” Master Fu replies from wherever he is. “Have a seat!”

Adrien pokes his head through to the next room and finds a low table with cushions around it. He kneels on the cushions, which are soft enough to keep his knees from hurting and looks around curiously. Master Fu walks in a couple of minutes later and takes the phonograph from the corner, setting it on the table before he joins Adrien on the cushions.

“Where’s the akuma?” Master Fu asks, moving things around on the phonograph. The top of it opens up and several small compartments slide out. A hard knot in Adrien’s chest eases slightly when the sees the Ladybug miraculous is safe inside the phonograph.

“The... akuma…?” Adrien repeats at last, unable to take his eyes off the Ladybug miraculous. The others are there too – the Mouse, the Fox, the Dragon, all of them except for the Turtle, the Black Cat, the Butterfly and the Peacock.

“Yes. Didn’t you bring an akuma here for me to purify?”

That’s enough to make Adrien look right at Master Fu. “Wait. An akuma for _you_ to purify?”


	4. Thief

There’s a pause during which Master Fu just looks at Adrien with this tired expression, and then he sighs heavily. “Adrien, we’ve been through this. I know that you want someone who can fight with you all the time, but it’s just not feasible. With the Peacock and Butterfly in Hawkmoth’s hands, it’s not safe for me to give the Ladybug out.”

“So you gave the Black Cat out and rely on Adrien to bring akuma back here, where you transform and purify them,” Plagg said, narrowing his eyes. “Wouldn’t it make more sense to just give the Ladybug miraculous out?”

Master Fu shakes his head. “You know I wasn’t able to find an appropriate candidate for the Ladybug, but I knew from the moment I saw you that you were _meant_ to be the Black Cat.” He smiles at Adrien. “I know that it puts a lot of pressure on you, but this is all necessary.”

Adrien begs to disagree on that, but he’s still caught up on the fact that somehow the akuma’s magic made it so that Master Fu never met Ladybug’s civilian self. He can’t decide if that’s better or worse than someone else ending up as Ladybug. On the one hand, he thinks he’s going to need the Ladybug miraculous for this. But on the other hand, he can’t imagine fighting alongside someone else.

“What about Queen Bee then?” Adrien says finally. “She helps me.”

“As you said yourself, sometimes an ally is necessary,” Master Fu says. “Now, where is the akuma?”

“There is no akuma,” Adrien says, glancing again at the miraculous. It’s just now hitting him that even if he wanted to call upon Carapace, Rena Rouge, Ryuuko, Viperion, or any of their other allies, he can’t. He doesn’t know who they are. Chloé is the only one he knows, and that’s only because Chloé told everyone. The knowledge settles heavily into his stomach. It never seemed like such a big deal because Ladybug was always there…

“Then why have you come? I told you it’s dangerous for you to be here. You could lead Hawkmoth here without knowing it!” Master Fu says impatiently, closing the phonograph. The miraculous vanish from Adrien’s view.

“I’m sorry. I was just –” Adrien realizes he has no explanation and so simply trails off into silence, watching as Master Fu locks the phonograph up.

He contemplates telling Master Fu why he’s really here, but he doesn’t know Master Fu well enough to know what Master Fu would do with that information. He might help… but he also might not believe Adrien, or he might decide that Adrien isn’t responsible enough to deal with this. He could take the Black Cat miraculous away. He curls shaking hands into fists and hides them under the table.

“It was my suggestion that he come. I wanted to talk to Wayzz,” Plagg cuts in smoothly. “But it can wait. Adrien, don’t you have a photoshoot to get to?”

“Oh, uh, yeah,” Adrien says lamely. In his rush to get up, he slams his knee into the underside of the table so hard that it bring tears to his eyes.

“Adrien! Are you okay?” Master Fu says.

“I’m fine,” Adrien breathes, even though his knee is throbbing. “Thanks for your, uh, help. Sorry for disturbing you. I’ll just –” He waves at the back door and hobbles towards it, leaving Master Fu staring after him. 

“That was smooth,” Plagg says as Adrien stumbles back into the alley.

“Shut up,” Adrien says automatically, leaning against the wall of the shop. “Plagg, what the hell am I gonna do?”

Plagg sighs and flies up so he’s right in front of Adrien’s face. “I don’t know, kid. You have to defeat the akuma before things will go back to normal. You can try patrolling tonight to see if that draws it out…”

“But?”

“But it’s very unlikely that anything short of the Ladybug miraculous would work, and even that might not do it,” Plagg admits. 

“I was adraid you’d say that. I need Ladybug,” Adrien realizes, sinking down to the ground. His knee protests with a sharp, shooting pain and he rubs it gingerly; he’ll probably have a huge bruise there later and his father will be furious.

“It’s hard to know that for sure at this point, but either way you’re gonna have to get the Ladybug miraculous from Fu,” Plagg says.

“He’s never going to give it to me. So what, you want me to become a thief?” Adrien says, only half-joking.

“Do you want your lady back?” Plagg asks, completely serious in a way that he so rarely is, and Adrien swallows hard. Because yeah, he really does.

“I’ll patrol tonight and we’ll see how it goes,” he says, dropping his gaze and hoping against hope that seeing Chat Noir out and about will be enough… even though he already knows that it won’t.


	5. Dare

Shortly after sunset, Chat opens up his bedroom window and jumps out. His knee throbs as he lands on the roof of the building opposite the Agreste mansion, and he winces. The suit is fantastic at cutting down on damage during akuma battles, but it can’t really do anything for injuries sustained at any other time. And the gigantic bruise developing on Adrien’s knee _hurts_.

That, plus the fact that he’s exhausted after spending all day dwelling on what’s happened, means Chat is already fed up with the world and he hasn’t even really patrolled yet. He slowly makes his way towards Collège Françoise Dupont, keeping his eyes peeled on the horizon for anything that seems out of place. But Paris looks disappointingly normal tonight…

Except for one thing.

“What are you doing?” Chat asks curiously, landing a little less gracefully than usual on the railing of Marinette’s balcony, and Marinette lets out a shriek and nearly drops the tub of water she’s holding.

“Chat Noir! You almost gave me a heart attack!” she exclaims, setting down the tub and glaring at him.

“Umm… sorry,” Chat says, sheepish now. “I was just passing by and I saw you…” He cocks his head, eyes flicking around the balcony at the various tubs, as well as the clothing stacked up on Marinette’s chair.

“I’m dyeing my clothes,” Marinette tells him, realizing that he’s waiting for an answer. “Well, they’re not _my_ clothes. They’re for this band that I’m a part of, Kitty Section. It’s merchandise for them to sell at their next concert. I’m going to dye the shirts a variety of colors before I put a stencil on them.” She picks up one of the already dyed shirts and shakes it out for Chat to see. 

“That sounds really cool,” Chat says, impressed. Marinette always tries so hard and does so much. They don’t deserve her.

She smiles at him. “I could dye your suit if you like.”

“If I didn’t think it would get me killed, I’d dare you to,” Chat says, deeply amused by the thought. Plagg would straight-up try to _murder_ him. But Chat Noir showing up in a bright red suit would probably make Ladybug laugh, so it might be worth it.

Or it would if Ladybug existed.

Marinette doesn’t seem to notice his sudden melancholy, as she turns away to dunk the shirt she’s holding into one of the tubs. “Well, I would hate to be responsible for the death of Paris’s superhero… even if he might deserve it for scaring _me_ half to death.”

“I said sorry,” Chat says.

“So you did, and I forgive you. Just don’t do it again.” She pulls the shirt out of the tub and gives it a critical look. The white color has been dyed a pale green. It must be okay, because she hangs it to dry.

“I won’t.” Feeling a little awkward now, Chat turns to leave. 

“You don’t have to go,” Marinette says, and he freezes. “You can stay. I-I mean if you don’t have anything else to do. I wouldn’t want to keep you from patrolling or anything.”

“I – sure,” Chat says, surprised but pleased. It beats an hour and a half of limping around Paris. Carefully, he puts his feet down from the railing – but not carefully enough. Marinette isn’t too preoccupied with her work to fail to notice the way he winces when he shifts his full weight onto his feet.

“What’s wrong?” she says, zeroing in on his leg.

“Nothing?” Chat doesn’t mean to make it sound like a question, but somehow it does. Marinette narrows her eyes and sets another shirt down to plant her hands on her hips.

“Chat Noir,” she says sternly.

“It’s really nothing! I hit my knee earlier, that’s all.”

“In an akuma attack?”

Chat shakes his head, a little embarrassed. “Nothing so cool. I stood up too fast and hit my knee on a table.”

A small smile crosses Marinette’s face. “Ah, it’s kind of nice to know that you’re human underneath that suit,” she says. “That sounds like something I would do. Take a seat on my chair. Did you take any painkillers?” She shifts around the piles of shirts as she speaks.

“No, I didn’t,” Chat says, unwilling to admit that to ask for a painkiller would have meant telling Nathalie that something was wrong. And then that would mean a doctor visit, and his father getting involved, and Chat just doesn’t have the emotional capacity for that kind of thing right now.

Marinette nods decisively. “Okay. Stay there. I’ll be right back.”


	6. Hold my baton

When Marinette climbs back out on the balcony, she has a basket, a glass of water and a couple of painkillers with her. She hands the painkillers and water over to Chat, who swallows the pills with a sip of the water. 

“Thanks,” he says quietly.

“No problem. Here, lean back. I brought you up some ice too,” she says, reaching into the basket and holding up a cloth bag full of ice cubes.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Chat says, stunned.

“Sure I did. What would we do if an akuma attacked and you weren’t at the top of your game? We can’t wait for Queen Bee to protect us.” Marinette smirks at him, her eyes twinkling.

“She would if she had to,” Chat says, feeling defensive on Chloé’s behalf. She doesn’t always do things for the right reasons, but he knows without a doubt that Chloé would stand between Hawkmoth and Paris if Paris needed her. 

“Hmm, maybe,” Marinette says, unconvinced.

“She would,” Chat says again even as he shifts to lean back, then winces. “Ouch! Hold my baton, would you?” He unclasps his baton from his lower back and hands it to Marinette, then leans back again. Marinette sets the baton aside and gently places the bag of ice down on his knee. It’s cold even through the protective material of the suit, but Chat forces himself to hold still since the ice will help with the swelling.

“There. You sit like that for a bit,” Marinette says, getting up and dusting her knees off. 

“Thanks,” Chat says quietly.

“No problem. There’s some cookies in the basket if you’re hungry,” she adds. “Papa was experimenting this afternoon. I think I brought up the last of the chocolate-strawberry-mango cookies.”

Chat takes a cookie but doesn’t bite into it yet, instead opting to watch Marinette as she returns to her work. There’s something peaceful about being here on the balcony with her. Marinette is fully involved in what she’s doing, brow wrinkled with concentration, yet Chat doesn’t feel like a distraction – or worse yet, a bother. He feels like an observer, like he’s welcome, and that’s not a bad feeling at all.

The persistent throb in his knee slowly dwindles as the ice melts, and at last Chat moves the bag aside. Between the ice and the painkillers, his knee feels a lot better. But he’s reluctant to leave. Not only because he thinks it’ll hurt again as soon as he moves, but also because leaving the balcony means facing up to the huge problem currently hanging over him.

“You’re sighing a lot. Are you okay?”

“Eh? Uh, yeah,” Chat says, looking over at Marinette. 

“You can talk to me if you need to,” Marinette says, hanging a pink shirt to dry. “Or if – if you just wanted to. Being a superhero seems like a lonely job.”

“It’s not usually,” Chat says quietly. When his lady is around, her light and warmth makes it impossible for him to feel lonely. But right now… Marinette isn’t wrong. And of course, she picks up on that.

“Not usually, but it is now?” she asks, twisting to look at him.

“Sort of. It’s complicated,” Chat says, unsure of how much he should share. “I… don’t really know what I’m supposed to do now. And the person who would normally help me figure it out is unavailable right now.” His gut clenches.

Marinette hums at that. “You’re smart. I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” she says, flashing him a smile.

Chat blinks a bit from the force of that smile and swallows dryly, reaching for his glass of water. “Thanks for the vote of confidence. You’re almost done?”

She goes with the change of subject, nodding. “Almost! And I’m glad, too. Kitty Section’s next concert is in a few days. The shirts need to be fully dry before I can stencil them, and that’ll day a day or so. I would hate to disappoint them if the shirts weren’t ready, especially since my boyfriend is part of the band.” She pulls out a purple shirt and hangs it, thus missing the expression on Chat’s face.

Marinette’s boyfriend. Luka. Of course. He’s not sure why that realization bothers him as much as it does.

“I’m sure Luka would understand,” he says as lightly as possible.

“Luka? Well, I’m sure he would too, but –” Marinette shakes her head with a little laugh. “Luka isn’t my boyfriend.”

“He’s not?” Chat says, eyebrows furrowed.

“No. My boyfriend is Adrien Agreste,” Marinette says happily, and Chat promptly chokes on his next drink of water.


	7. Disguise

“Chat, are you okay?” Marinette says, looking at him worriedly. Chat waves her off, slowly working air back into his lungs as opposed to water.

“Your – your – sorry?” he gasps out. “Adrien Agreste is your _boyfriend_?”

“Yeah. Oh, but please don’t spread that around. We’re keeping it quiet so that his father doesn’t find out,” Marinette says quickly. “I probably shouldn’t have told you that.”

“I – uh, I’m sure Adrien wouldn’t mind. Superheros are good at keeping secrets,” Chat says, dazed. “Why don’t you want his father to find out?”

“Gabriel Agreste is an asshole,” Marinette says, so abrupt and to-the-point that Chat almost chokes again. “Adrien’s not sure what he would do, so it’s easier if he doesn’t know. I mean, he’ll probably find out at some point… but the further off in the future that is, the better.”

“Right,” Chat says, because he can’t argue with that. He falls quiet and just stares at Marinette for a long moment, taking her in, thinking. He and Marinette are just friends in the real world. Sometimes Nino will tease Adrien about having a crush on her, but he always brushes Nino off. So long as his enchanting lady is in the picture, Adrien has eyes for no one else.

But… that’s the thing, isn’t it? Ladybug’s _not_ in the picture here. And without her, he’s evidently gone ahead and fallen in love with Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Somehow, that thought doesn’t bother him nearly as much as he thinks it should.

“How’s your leg?” Marinette asks, seemingly not minding the scrutiny – or at least, she doesn’t call him out for it.

“It’s better, thanks,” Chat says. “So… your boyfriend. What do you like about him?” It’s a dirty question and he knows it, but he can’t help himself.

Marinette flushes prettily, but it’s her glowing smile that leaves Chat breathless.

She looks so _happy_.

“Adrien is a great guy. You probably don’t know him, but he’s so much more than what you see in those ads,” Marinette says, leaning against the railing. “He’s so sweet and so kind. I was kind of a bitch the first day we met. I jumped to a conclusion and yelled at him, and he still gave me his umbrella so I wouldn’t get wet on my way home. What kind of guy even does that?” She sighs dreamily.

Chat just blinks at her, because he remembers that moment too and – and is that what it _really_ meant to Marinette?

“Not only that, but he makes me feel really good and happy when he’s around. I just feel like I can depend on him,” Marinette continues. “I could call him up right now and say that I needed his help, and I know he’d find a way to come running!” She half-lifts her hand like she might do just that and Chat jolts out of his stupor.

“It’s late, he’s probably sleeping,” he says quickly, trying to conceal a sudden swell of guilt. Sleeping… or sitting here talking to Marinette in disguise.

“I hope he is. Adrien never gets enough sleep. His schedule is so jampacked it’s ridiculous.” Marinette huffs a little. “I don’t even know if he’s going to make it to the Kitty Section concert. He hasn’t made it to the last three, even though he tries his best. Sometimes it seems like his father deliberately schedules things so that Adrien can’t come.”

“What a dick,” Chat says, who knows for a fact that that is _exactly_ what Nathalie does. Gabriel doesn’t have much patience for anything other than classical music, and he tends to see Kitty Section as a waste of Adrien’s valuable time.

“Right? He doesn’t eat enough either. I know he’s a model but they’re like, obsessed with his weight. I’ve been trying to bring him more pastries lately,” Marinette adds. “And lunches big enough for us to share.”

“That’s… so sweet,” Chat says. It’s more than sweet. It’s incredible. That right there is more attention than anyone’s paid to Adrien Agreste for a very long time. His stomach twists with the realization as Marinette giggles.

“It’s nothing,” she says shyly, looking away. “I just want to help him in any way that I can.” She smiles down at the shirt in her hands with this soft look that makes Chat feel overwhelmed.

Because he did that. _He_ made Marinette look like that.

And he has no idea what to do with that information.


	8. Don’t tell me what to do

“It’s getting late. I should probably go,” Chat says. He’s not sure how long he’s been on Marinette’s balcony, but it’s probably been at least a couple of hours. Marinette’s finished dyeing all of the shirts and she has school tomorrow, while he has a photoshoot. They both need their rest. But he finds himself even more reluctant to go now than he was before. 

“That’s up to you,” Marinette says, snagging the last cookie for herself.

“You should be getting to bed,” Chat tells her.

She sniffs at him. “Don’t think you can tell me what to do just because you’re a superhero.”

Chat can’t help cracking a grin. “It’s not because I’m a superhero. Think of it as advice from someone who has gone without sleep _way_ too many times.” There have been too many nights where he and Ladybug have seen dawn during an akuma battle, and even more nights where his civilian job required him to be up at all hours. Sleep is a precious commodity, and no one knows that better than he does.

“Hmm… I hate to admit it, but you do have a point. Last time I fell asleep on Alya’s shoulder, she drew a mustache on my face,” Marinette says, making a face.

“Huh,” Chat says, wondering if Alya has any pictures of that. He gets up, gingerly flexing his knee. The pain is still there, but it’s duller than it was before the ice and painkillers. 

“You should ice that again in the morning,” says Marinette, looking at his knee.

“Ah… yeah, that probably won’t happen. I didn’t exactly tell anyone that I hurt myself,” he says. And he doesn’t plan to. 

Marinette purses her lips. “Then come back tomorrow night and I’ll bring you some ice.”

Chat looks at her in surprise, both because of her offer and because she hasn’t pressed him for _why_ he’s unwilling to tell anyone he got hurt. His instinct is to refuse, but her kindness and tact are working against him. The thought of coming back here after a patrol is more tempting than it should be, and, judging by the knowing look on her face, Marinette knows it.

“Come on,” she wheedles. “Some of the shirts will be dry by then. You can keep me company while I start stenciling them.”

“Okay,” Chat says before better judgment can prevail.

“Great! I’ll see you tomorrow night, then.” Marinette hops up, putting her phone in her back pocket. “Good night, Chat Noir.”

“Good night,” Chat says softly, watching as she disappears back into her bedroom. Only once the window closes behind her does he leave, making his way back towards the Agreste mansion. He keeps an eye out for anything akuma-related on the way back, but Paris remains as quiet as it did before.

When he gets home, Chat climbs inside his bedroom and shuts the window behind him before saying, “Claws in.”

“Cheeeeeeeese!” Plagg wails dramatically as he tumbles out of the ring. “You promised it would be a _short_ patrol!”

Adrien winces, because he did, didn’t he? “Sorry, Plagg. I got distracted.” He walks over to the fridge to get some Camembert, failing to notice the way Plagg’s eyes narrow into a calculating look.

“And just what were you distracted by, hmm?” Plagg asks, following.

“Um – I ended up stopping by Marinette’s for a little while,” Adrien says, pulling a quarter wheel of Camembert out of the fridge. He unwraps it and leaves it on the desk. Plagg drifts down towards the cheese, but keeps eyeing Adrien.

“And just what happened at Marinette’s?” Plagg says, grabbing the cheese.

“What do you mean?” Adrien asks with the most innocent expression he can muster when his heart is pounding like this. “I was out patrolling but my knee hurt. She saw me pass by and called me over, then gave me ice for my knee. We sat and chatted while I had the ice on.” It’s not exactly the truth, but a highly edited version that is all Plagg needs to know.

Unfortunately, Plagg doesn’t buy it for a second. “I wasn’t born yesterday, kid. The stupid smile on your face isn’t because she gave you _ice_.”

Is he smiling? Adrien quickly schools his expression and self-consciously clears his throat. “She, ah, also mentioned that I’m her boyfriend,” he says quickly, because it’s inevitable that Plagg will find out.

Plagg blinks at him for a solid ten seconds.

And then he laughs.


	9. Cone of shame

After a good five minutes of listening to Plagg laugh so hard that he can’t even eat his cheese, Adrien gives up and stalks into the bathroom. He takes a quick shower because he knows he won’t have time in the morning, and that gives him the opportunity to examine the bruise on his leg. The swelling has gone down considerably thanks to the ice… thanks to Marinette. 

He realizes that he’s smiling again and self-consciously stops even though he’s alone. It feels weird to dwell on the fact that he and Marinette are dating in this world, and even weirder when his thoughts start straying to wondering how Marinette feels about him in the real world. He doesn’t like it. He quickly washes his hair and rinses himself off, then pulls the curtain back.

“So tell me exactly what happened with Marinette,” Plagg says from where he’s lounging on the counter.

Adrien doesn’t shriek, but it’s a very near thing. He does let out a shrill squeak as he fumbles for his towel. “Plagg! What have I told you about the bathroom?!”

“This is your private space and I should wait in your bedroom while you shower because it’s the respectful thing to do,” Plagg recites boredly. 

“No more Camembert for you for a week!” Adrien snaps, wrapping his towel around his waist.

“We’ll see,” Plagg says. “Marinette?”

“Why do you even care?” Adrien says, then shakes his head resignedly. “Nothing. I told you what happened. Including the part about me being her b-boyfriend.” He stutters briefly over the word and then immediately hates himself when Plagg’s eyes take on a knowing gleam.

“And what do you think about being her boyfriend?” Plagg asked.

“I don’t think anything about it,” Adrien lies. Truth be told, he doesn’t really know _what_ to think.

“Uh huh,” Plagg says, not looking like he believes that for a second. “It doesn’t make you happy?”

“No,” Adrien says resolutely. “Why would it? I love Ladybug. Marinette is just my friend.”

Plagg rolls his eyes at that. “Kid… seriously.”

“What?” Adrien walks over to the counter and starts combing his hair, deliberately not looking at his kwami. Never one to be ignored, Plagg flies up in front of his face until Adrien _has_ to look at him.

“You can love more than one person, okay?” Plagg says, looking so serious that Adrien can’t help but pay attention. “Humans, honestly! You’re not betraying Ladybug by liking Marinette, you know. You’re not even _dating_ Ladybug. And you can tell yourself that Marinette is just your friend all you want, but the fact that you’re happily dating her in a world where there is no Ladybug speaks volumes.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Adrien mumbles weakly, but he can kind of see what Plagg means. Being in Ladybug’s presence makes him feel like a moth being attracted to light. She’s so all-consuming that he can’t see anything else. 

But in a universe where there is no Ladybug… maybe it’s easier to see, and recognize, the other people around him.

“Keep telling yourself that,” Plagg says. “By the way, for making me talk about feelings, you owe me even _more_ cheese.”

“What?! No way! No cheese for you!” Adrien says. “You deserve a cone of shame for phasing through the bathroom door like that.”

Plagg huffs. “Just for that, I’m not sure I should give you a clue to finding Ladybug.” He turns and floats off, phasing through the door. Adrien blinks after him for a moment before scrambling to follow.

“Wait! A clue to finding Ladybug? You have one?” he exclaims.

“You’ve hurt my feelings. I don’t feel like sharing.”

“Plagg, I’ll give you a whole wheel of Camembert if you tell me,” Adrien says, clasping his hands in front of his chest.

“Hmm… alright,” Plagg concedes. “You told me that Marinette offered her help, right?”

“Yeah…” Adrien says slowly.

“Then maybe you should take her up on it,” Plagg says.

“Take her – take her up on it _how_?” Adrien says, baffled.

“Think about it. I’m sure it’ll come to you,” Plagg says. “I’ll take my cheese after my nap.” He lands on Adrien’s pillow, flops over, and starts snoring – and when Plagg falls asleep, absolutely nothing will wake him up. 

“Plaaaaaaaagg!” Adrien lets out a cry of frustration, grabbing at his hair. “That’s not helpful!”


	10. Can I borrow your miraculous?

“Tilt your head up, Adrien! No, not that far – look over here – yes!” 

It takes effort to keep a smile on your face when someone is yelling at you, but Adrien manages. He holds the uncomfortable pose as another model walks onto set to join him; they take a few more shots as is, and then it’s on to the next. His body is aching by the time Vincent calls for a break, and he doesn’t stick around the set. Instead, he retreats to the cramped dressing room they’re letting him use.

“Something about this seems harder than usual,” Adrien sighs, sinking down into the chair. It could be that he’s running on about two hours sleep. He stayed up most of the night dwelling on Plagg’s words and trying to figure out how they could apply to his current problem.

“You’re under a lot of stress. Cut yourself some slack,” says Plagg, crawling out of Adrien’s backpack and flying up to sit on the counter. “You could’ve just skipped the shoot.”

“No, I can’t,” Adrien says, staring at his reflection in the mirror. Thanks to some clever work on the part of his make-up artist, he doesn’t look nearly as tired as he feels. He can only imagine Gabriel’s reaction if he decided not to show up today. 

“Then why don’t you go for a run?” Plagg suggests.

“What?”

“I heard them yelling. Something a missing photo lens. It’s going to be about an hour before things resume,” says Plagg.

Adrien narrows his eyes at the too-innocent tone. “Plagg, did you _steal_ that photo lens?”

“Adrien, I’m appalled that you would think so lowly of me!” Plagg exclaims.

Adrien just keeps staring.

Plagg shrugs. “Alright, ‘stole’ might be a strong word. I might have accidentally knocked it behind a table and pulled a coat over it.”

“Plagg.” Adrien facepalms, then jolts as he remembers his make-up. “You know better than that.”

“You looked like you needed a break,” Plagg says. “Wouldn’t a run make you feel better?”

“I guess,” Adrien says slowly, a little surprised. Usually Plagg whines and complains when Chat Noir makes an impromptu appearance. Maybe he looks worse than he thought if his kwami is actually making that sacrifice. 

“So?” Plagg says expectantly.

“Okay. Let’s go.” Adrien gets up and takes a quick look around outside the room. Now that he’s paying attention, he can hear a flurry of activity going on as people search for the missing lens. He silently promises them that if they haven’t found it within thirty minutes, he’ll return, join the search, and miraculously “find” the lens. 

He shuts the door and whispers, “Plagg, claws out!”

Green light flashes through the room and then Chat climbs up and out the window. He quickly scales his way onto the roof of the building and then sits down, watching the chaos below. It’s tempting to go for a run, but he doesn’t know if he wants to aggravate his knee. Besides, this way he can keep an eye on what’s going on. If things resume, he can make it back inside his room before anyone comes looking for Adrien Agreste.

He pulls his legs up against his chest and rests his chin on his good knee, feeling weary. Not just because of a lack of sleep, but because he misses Ladybug. He wishes he could see her smile just for a moment. But he knows he can’t, and inevitably he starts thinking of another smile. He promised Marinette he’d come back tonight. Was that a mistake?

He should be patrolling… he should be figuring out a way to fix this… he should be going to see Master Fu… but…

“I hardly think he’s gonna say yes if I walk up and go, ‘Can I borrow your miraculous for a minute?’” he grumbles to himself. “Especially not the Ladybug miraculous. I should’ve been the one who got hit by that akuma. He would’ve handed the Black Cat miraculous over to My Lady in a moment… if she even needed it. She would totally have this fixed by now…” 

He sighs again, knowing that Ladybug would be disappointed in him. It stings. He wants to be good enough, but somehow it seems like he consistently fails no matter what he does… and that’s the hardest thing of all.


	11. Chat Blanc

It’s a downtrodden Adrien that returns to his home that night, well past the point where he was supposed to – Plagg’s stunt delayed the photoshoot by a good hour, as a few of the models had wandered off during the search. The late hour means Adrien is hungry and tired. He eats alone as per usual, scarfing down the salad that the chef serves him for supper, before heading up to his bedroom.

“Kid, you really gotta pull yourself together,” Plagg says as soon as Adrien has closed the bedroom door. “You’re acting like Ladybug died.”

“She did, in a way,” Adrien says, stomach clenching. 

“No, she didn’t,” Plagg says, so sharply that Adrien looks at him in surprise. “Ladybug is still alive. She just doesn’t know that she’s Ladybug.”

“That’s true,” Adrien says slowly, having not thought about it that way. Now he really wishes that he knew Ladybug’s civilian identity. It would feel easier to deal with things if he could talk to her for a minute, even if she didn’t know who he was or why she mattered to him.

“You don’t want to end up being akumatized into Chat Blanc, do you?” Plagg adds.

“No!” Adrien says, horrified. The details Ladybug gave him about Chat Blanc were scant. She seemed to think that Adrien wouldn’t want to know too much, and frankly she wasn’t wrong. But he does know that Ladybug saved him, was the only thing that _could_ save him, and she’s not around right now –

“Then stop dwelling on your negativity! Go spend the night with Pigtails and tomorrow you can start figuring out how to get the Ladybug miraculous from Fu,” Plagg says, alighting on Adrien’s shoulder. “Once you have that, you’ll be able to draw the akuma out of hiding.”

“Do you really think Mister Bug will be enough?” Adrien asks.

“It’s worth a shot. And if not, then you can think up another plan of attack,” says Plagg. “Alright?”

For the first time that day, a real smile crosses Adrien’s face. He reaches up and gently scratches Plagg’s ears, right where he knows that Plagg likes it the most. His heart swells with fondness when Plagg starts to purr. Thank god for Plagg. As troublesome and frustrating as he can be sometimes, Adrien’s life changed for the better the day that Plagg came into it.

“Thanks,” he says softly, rubbing his cheek against Plagg’s for a moment. “I think I saw that your favorite cheese store is having a sale on that honey spiced cheese… I’ll get you some.”

“Hmm, acceptable,” Plagg says, looking pleased. “Now go.”

“Plagg, claws out!” Adrien calls out, punching the air. Green light swirls around him and it’s with a considerably lighter heart that Chat Noir jumps out the window and takes to the roofs. This time he takes a direct route to Marinette’s head, but she’s not out on the balcony tonight. 

He lands on the railing and waits for a moment, uncertain. The window to her room is open, and after a few seconds Chat climbs down and makes his way over. When he peeks inside, he immediately spots Marinette. She’s seated at her desk with a mountain of shirts beside her. Her face is all wrinkled up with focus, tongue sticking out, and Chat can’t help smiling.

She really is cute.

“Marinette?” he says quietly, not wanting to startle her, but she jumps anyway.

“Oh… Chat! Is it that late already?” Marinette motions to her chair without giving him a chance to respond, saying, “Come on in. I hope you don’t mind. It’s easier to work in here than to drag my sewing machine out on the balcony, but you can sit on my chaise.”

“Um… Sure,” Chat says, crawling inside. He carefully avoids her bed, not wanting to get it dirty, and lands on the floor. Before he can move to the chaise, he stops. His attention is captured by the walls.


	12. Kwami swap

Adrien’s walls are blank. The only thing he’s allowed to put up are paintings that his father approves of, and nothing that Gabriel approves of is to Adrien’s taste. So his solution has always been to put nothing up.

But Marinette’s walls… they’re covered in pictures. Some have been cut from magazines or printed from the internet or taken from fashion books – these are primarily designs and models, including a few of Adrien himself showcasing some of _Gabriel’s_ more popular designs. They’re interspersed with rough sketches, some from famous designers and some from Marinette herself.

Then there are the _other_ pictures. 

Pictures of Marinette and their friends. Pictures of Marinette and her parents. Pictures of Marinette and… Adrien. It’s the last one which makes Chat’s heart seize in his chest. He crosses to the wall and stares at them from closer up, hardly daring to breathe. There’s one where he and Marinette are holding hands with shy smiles, one where he’s picked Marinette up and is spinning her around, one where – 

Oh.

Chat swallows dryly, eyes glued to the picture of him and Marinette _kissing_.

That’s –

Wow.

“You like my collage, huh?” Marinette says. Her voice sounds distant.

“Uh… yeah,” Chat says dumbly. “It’s… pretty great.”

“Thanks! It took me a lot of time to get all the pictures up the way I wanted them, but I love looking at them when I’m having a hard time with a design,” Marinette says. “They give me inspiration.”

“I bet,” Chat says, forcing himself to look at the other pictures. There’s one of him and Marinette at the zoo, one of them at a café, several of them at school and of them hanging out with Alya and Nino… but again and again, Chat’s eyes are drawn back to the one of them kissing.

It’s a grainy picture. Knowing Alya, she probably took it from a distance. He and Marinette are standing under an umbrella. Adrien is holding it over them. His other hand is resting on Marinette’s hip. One of Marinette’s hands is tangled in his shirt collar, and the other is cupping Adrien’s jaw. The kiss looks simultaneously tender and passionate.

He’s not sure what he finds so arresting about the picture. It’s not until he makes himself look at the other pictures again that he gets it. 

He looks _happy_.

The kind of happy that only Ladybug has made him feel.

“I have some ice for your leg,” Marinette says.

Chat blinks and realizes he’s being rude. “Oh, thanks.” He takes a reluctant step back from the wall and sits down on the chaise. As promised, there’s a bag of ice – only slightly melted – waiting for him. He props his leg up and sets the ice on top of his knee.

Marinette has bent her head to her work again. He watches her for a few minutes; she’s totally in the zone, sliding each shirt underneath the needle, sewing on the stencil, and then moving on to the next one. Luckily, each shirt only takes her a little while because she has a big stack next to her waiting to be done. 

“They look really good,” he offers.

“Thanks,” Marinette says, turning to him and smiling. “I hope people actually want to buy them.”

“I think they will,” Chat says. The bright colors that Marinette’s chosen for the dye really bring out the darker Kitty Section stencil. He knows that he, at least, will be buying a shirt in every color.

He finds himself looking at a red shirt with a black stencil. The colors remind him of Ladybug, and he can’t help the way that makes his heart ache. Will a kwami swap be enough to bring her back? What will he do if it’s not? What if things stay this way?

“I’m at a good stopping point. Want a snack?” Marinette asks, pushing her chair back and stretching. Chat quickly looks away from the shirt and smiles at her.

“Sure,” he says. The sad salad he had for supper is already a distant memory.

“I’ll be right back.” Marinette hops up and stride over to her door, descending the stairs.

Alone, Chat’s eyes instantly wander back to the collage on the wall. The pictures speak of a happier Adrien Agreste. He always thought that it would take Ladybug agreeing to be with him to make him that happy. But maybe he was wrong? Maybe he just couldn’t see past the light of his lady. Maybe… maybe happiness is closer than he ever could have guessed…


	13. Flower crown

Marinette brings back day-old scones and tea. She drags a little stool over and sets the tray down on it, then takes a seat beside Chat on the chaise with a sigh. He looks at her out of the corner of his eye, taking in the subtle signs of stress. She would never admit it – she’s as stubborn as Ladybug that way – but he thinks that doing all these shirts has been a little too much for her.

“Do you think you’ll get them all done?” he asks carefully.

“Oh… I think so. Alya offered to help me, but she’s not very good at sewing. She’s the kind of person who couldn’t sew a straight line if her life depended on it.” Marinette smiles faintly. “I’ll be okay. Worse comes to worst, I’ll throw myself on Maman’s mercy. She taught me to sew and she could whip through those shirts in about two seconds flat.”

“Wow,” Chat says, impressed.

“I know, right? I dream of the day I can be as fast at sewing as she can.” Marinette breaks a scone in two and butters half of it, then hands it to him. 

“Thanks,” he says, lifting it to his lips. A small bite reveals the taste of orange and cranberry, tart and sweet at the same time, and he hums appreciatively.

“It doesn’t look like Adrien will make it the show though,” Marinette adds.

“Why do you say that?”

“He said he’d text me by noon today if he could and he didn’t, so I know that means his dad said no.” Marinette sighs as Chat internally flails. Of course, he has no memory of making that promise.

In the real world, he’s not part of Kitty Section. He has played with the band a couple of times, and Luka’s offered him an invitation to join, but Adrien doesn’t dare push his father too far. School and being Chat Noir are the top priorities in his life and he doesn’t want to do anything to jeopardize those.

But in this world… he glances again at Marinette, thinking about her smile when she talked about supporting her boyfriend. Maybe he has another top responsibility here, and so actually had a reason to say yes and push his father for Kitty Section?

“He might text you yet. Maybe he was busy today,” Chat says lamely, looking away and hoping that she doesn’t notice his guilty expression. Marinette deserves better.

“Yeah, he was at a modeling shoot all day. He didn’t text me at all so he must have been busy,” Marinette says.

Chat winces. Damn, he’s really failing on the boyfriend front. Texting Marinette never even _occurred_ to him.

“I don’t like to text him when he’s busy,” she continues. “He has enough on his plate.”

“I’m sure he wouldn’t mind hearing from you,” Chat says, turning back to her. 

Marinette shakes her head. “I wouldn’t want to bother him.”

“You’re _not_ a bother, Marinette. Photoshoots sound really draining. A text from you would brighten up Adrien’s whole day.” The fierce words are out before Chat can stop them, but he knows in his heart that he means them. Just the thought that Marinette’s been worrying about him is enough to make his heart flutter. A text from her would’ve improved his mood immensely.

Her face softens. “Thanks, Chat. I needed to hear that. Maybe I’ll text him tonight before I go to sleep.”

“You should,” Chat says, knowing that he’ll text her the moment he’s home. She deserves that much.

She deserves so much more.

“I should get back to work,” says Marinette. “Rose asked me if I could make her a flower crown to wear too.”

“Can I help?” Chat asks.

She looks at him in surprise. “I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

Chat shrugs. “I’m just sitting here. Put me to work. I can’t sew, but if I can help some other way…”

“You can weave the flowers together, or start,” she says after a thoughtful pause, and gets up to collect a bunch of fake flowers. She dumps them in Chat’s lap.

“Umm…” Chat says.

Marinette giggles. “Don’t worry. It’s not as hard as it looks. Here, I’ll show you.” She grabs two flowers and puts them in his hand. Though he’s wearing the suit, Chat can feel heat of her skin. His heart flutters again, stronger this time, and he feels his face get hot at her proximity.

“R-right,” he says, trying to focus on what she’s saying and ignore his quickening pulse.


	14. Chocolate

The flower crown is almost complete when Marinette starts yawning, and Chat instantly feels guilty. It’s getting late and, loathe though he is to leave, he feels like he should so that she can get some rest. He carefully finishes tying another flower into the crown before clearing his throat.

“I should go so you can get to bed,” he says.

“No!” Marinette says, turning away from her machine. “Why are you always trying to send me to bed?”

“Superhero who doesn’t get enough sleep, remember?” Chat reminds her, and then suddenly Marinette is the one who looks guilty.

“Shit, I forgot. I’m sorry. You don’t have to stay. You can go,” she says.

Chat squints at her. “Do you… not _want_ me to go?” he asks hesitantly. It’s a new experience for him, people actually wanting him around, and so he’s not sure if he’s interpreting Marinette’s actions correctly. Much to his surprise, Marinette turns pink and looks down at the floor.

“Um – well – that’s not – I-I mean –” she stammers.

“Marinette? You can tell me,” he says, giving her a gentle smile. Marinette looks up at him and then sighs, shoulders slumping.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she admits, wringing her hands together. “I’ve felt so weird the last couple of days, and I don’t know why. You know that feeling you get when you’re missing something, but you can’t put your finger on what it is that you’re missing?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s like that. Like – like I’ve forgotten something important. I keep wracking my brain to think of what it might be, but –” She exhales and reaches up to tighten the ribbon on one of her pigtails. “I’ve been driving myself into the ground trying to finish off these shirts. I know as soon as I’m done with them and get a chance to sleep and relax, I’ll figure out what it is that I’m missing.”

“Okay,” Chat says slowly. “I don’t see what that has to do with me.”

“When you’re here, I don’t feel that way,” Marinette says in a small voice. “So I don’t know… maybe I’m just lonely.”

The word hits Chat like a slap to the face. Someone like Marinette should never have to feel lonely. 

She must see the look on his face because she rushes to add, “But you don’t have to worry about it! Like I said, it’s just me being weird. I should make some plans with Alya after school tomorrow. We can go get some chocolate ice cream or something. I bet that will make me feel better!”

“Sure,” Chat says, biting his lip and feeling another hot swell of guilt. He’s got a fencing practice and then a Chinese lesson after school tomorrow. He can’t make plans with Marinette even if he wants to.

And he’s not sure he does want to. Wouldn’t it be taking advantage of her since they’re not _really_ dating? It’s just an akuma’s magic making Marinette think that they are. As soon as the akuma is gone, everything will go back to normal. He wouldn’t want Marinette to still remember and think Adrien was a terrible person because he went along with dating her – 

Of course, _Marinette_ wouldn’t think Adrien knew any differently since she doesn’t know he’s Chat. But _he_ would know.

“You can go if you want to. No need to stick around. I know you’re tired,” Marinette says, drawing his attention back to her. He looks at her kind, lovely face and suddenly can’t bring himself to leave even though he knows that would be the smart decision. 

“It’s okay. I’ll stick around a little longer if you don’t mind,” says Chat. “I really want to see if I can finish this properly.” He gestures to the crown in his lap.

“Right,” Marinette says after a pause, and he doesn’t think it’s his imagination that she looks relieved. 

As Chat picks up the flower crown again, he wonders if Marinette is really lonely or if she’s somehow feeling the effects of the akuma’s magic. Perhaps miraculous users are more sensitive to it? She was Multimouse, though it happened just the one time. But someone who has used a miraculous more often might be able to help him figure it out.

And there’s just one other miraculous user he knows of who he can ask.


	15. Friendship

“Ha, finished!” Chat says triumphantly, holding up the flower crown several minutes later. He looks up, expecting to see Marinette’s smile or maybe a gentle tease about how long it took him, and instead sees her slumped over her desk. It takes him a couple of seconds to realize that she’s fallen asleep.

He sets the flower crown down and gets up, carefully maneuvering between the piles of shirts to get closer to her. Marinette’s head is resting on one of the shirts, further cushioned by her arms. Her eyes are shut and she’s breathing deeply. Before he can stop himself, he puts a hand on her hair. 

She works so hard. Too hard. 

“Mari, you’re so nice to everyone when you should be kinder to yourself,” he says softly, glancing at all of the work she’s done. He has no doubt that she’ll finish, probably with time to spare, but she’s not getting anything else done tonight. He briefly contemplates leaving her where she is but knows from experience that falling asleep at a desk usually means a painful crick in the neck come morning.

So he makes a quick decision and bends down, easily scooping her up bridal style. One of her pigtails brushes over his nose as her head rolls against his shoulder, and he unwittingly takes a deep inhale. Her hair smells like vanilla and cherries. It’s hard to know whether that’s the scent of her shampoo or whether it comes from living above the bakery. He knows she helps her parents out sometimes.

It’s a nice smell. Comforting. Chat stands there for a moment, eyes closed, just breathing her in. For the first time, he consciously realizes that being near Marinette makes him feel calm – calm and content. No, not content. _Happy_.

He opens his eyes and looks again at the pictures on the wall.

Plagg and Nino have always made comments about his friendship with Marinette. Adrien’s never taken either one of them seriously, secure in his feelings for Ladybug. He’s never actually considered being anything other than friends with Marinette… but now he kind of has to. There’s a world out there, even if it’s by an akuma’s design, where Marinette makes him look like _that_. He can’t just _ignore_ that, can he?

But then there’s Ladybug…

Chat sighs, his heart and head both feeling uncomfortably full, and turns towards Marinette’s bed. In the process, one of her legs hits the closet door and pushes it shut. He freezes; Marinette stirs but doesn’t wake up, thankfully. He breathes, goes to move –

Oh.

On the wall, hidden by the closet door, are more pictures.

Of him.

Of _Chat Noir_.

Chat stares at them in shock. 

Why does Marinette have pictures of Chat Noir on her wall? 

“Marinette! Are you in bed yet?”

At the sound of Marinette’s maman’s voice, Chat nearly has a heart attack. He bolts up the steps to her bed, lays Marinette down as gently as he can, and then leaps out the window. No sooner is he on the balcony does he hear the sound of Marinette’s door opening. 

“Oh, Marinette. You silly girl. You fell asleep with the light on and the window open…” Marinette’s maman comes the rest of the way up into the room. Chat doesn’t stick around to see whether she notices the two empty cups of tea. He vaults over the balcony railing and streaks towards the Agreste mansion, head spinning.

Ladybug. Marinette.

The two girls spin through his mind until he doesn’t know what to think.

He loves Ladybug. He _knows_ that.

But Marinette…

Does she really love him?

Could he love her?

He can’t dismiss that thought, and the fact that he can’t makes him think that the answer might be yes. It’s scary. His heart is pounding for reason that have nothing to do with almost getting caught as he stumbles through the window. He promptly trips over his bookbag and collapses onto his bed with a yelp.

“Smooth, Agreste,” he whispers to himself, staring up at the ceiling.

Is this just because Ladybug isn’t around? 

Or has he always felt this way and he was just too dense to notice?

He closes his eyes, muttering, “Plagg, claws in.”

“Huh, I thought Pigtails might make you feel better. Not worse,” Plagg says, hovering over him.

Adrien just groans and pulls a pillow over his face.


	16. Do not disturb

“Adrien! Adrien, are you awake?”

Nathalie’s voice, accompanied by a sharp knocking on the door, rudely jerks Adrien out of a sound sleep. He lunges upwards, blinking confusedly, and realizes that he forgot all about setting his alarm last night. It also hits him that he forgot to text Marinette. Weirdly, the latter bothers him way more than the former.

“Adrien!”

“Yes! Yes, I’m – sorry.” He scrambles out of bed and rushes to the door, pulling it open. Nathalie folds her arms across her chest as she surveys him with that disapproving expression that is a scarily close match to his father’s. It always make Adrien feel about two inches tall.

“Your father wanted me to tell you that you won’t be going to school today,” she said.

“What? Why not?” Adrien says, disappointed.

“The delay at the photoshoot yesterday means that several of the pictures will need to be retaken,” says Nathalie, and Adrien blinks at her for a moment.

“… Why?”

“The lighting wasn’t optimal,” Nathalie says, which is basically code for ‘because Gabriel said so’. “You have thirty minutes to make yourself presentable. I suggest you hurry if you want to have breakfast.” Her lips thin as she eyes his hair.

“Okay. Thanks,” Adrien says with a sigh. There’s no point in fighting it; he knows that Nathalie will have called the school to tell them that he won’t be there before she ever came to tell Adrien about it.

“Thirty minutes,” Nathalie repeats before turning to leave.

“Nathalie, wait! There’s a Kitty Section in a couple of days. Could you fit it into my schedule?” Adrien blurts out.

Nathalie doesn’t even look back at him as she says, “I will discuss it with your father.”

Right. Adrien knows what that means. He makes a face and a rude gesture at her back that would totally get him grounded if she saw before shutting the door. When Nathalie first started as his father’s assistant, Adrien had high hopes for her as a voice of common sense. But over the years, her personality has changed a lot until she’s too much like Gabriel for her own good.

“Well, this is a great start to the day,” he mutters to himself.

“You need a ‘do not disturb’ sign for your door,” Plagg says, rolling over on Adrien’s pillow and stretching.

“It’s not like it would be respected,” Adrien says, walking into the bathroom. He takes one look in the mirror and grimaces. No wonder Nathalie was judging his hair. It’s sticking up in all directions and crusty from the excessive amount of product put into it during the photoshoot yesterday. He definitely needs to shower.

He does so quickly, ruminating on his realization from last night – not _that_ realization, the other one. He stayed up way too late thinking about Marinette and Ladybug as it is, and his brain doesn’t have the capacity to think about them any more right now.

But Multimouse is what he’s currently focusing on, and by extension Queen Bee. He needs to talk to Chloé. At the very least, he needs to figure out if she can be reliable back-up against the akuma.

When he’s out, dried and dressed, Adrien grabs his phone. He freezes when he sees there’s a notification from Marinette sent a couple minutes ago.

 **Mari** : Hey just heard you won’t be in today cause of your dad. Hope you have a good day <3 you

Adrien has to sit down.

_< 3 you_

That’s what she wrote to him.

“Kid?” Plagg says, sounding a long ways off. “You went white. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Adrien croaks, swallowing hard. His fingers are shaking as he types back to her.

 **Adrien** : Yeah just heard I have to redo yesterday’s photoshoot… yay. I asked Nathalie about the concert but no answer yet so keep your fingers crossed.

There. He hits send and then hesitates. Should he send a heart back? It would feel weird, but if that’s what Marinette expects then it would be weirder to not do it, right? He scrolls back up to look at their previous messages and notices that yes, they usually send hearts to each other. So he adds:

 **Adrien:** : <3 you too

The sight of three blinking dots that means she’s responding makes his pulse quicken unexpectedly. He jiggles his knees, watching the three dots impatiently.

“Adrien! Come on, you’re late!”

Shit. Adrien jumps up again, shouting, “Right, I’m coming!” and grabs Plagg, stuffing both kwami and phone into his pockets as he rushes out.


	17. Balcony

That night, even though he really wants to, Chat Noir doesn’t head to Marinette’s. Instead, he quietly slips out his window and heads towards Le Grand Paris. The hotel looks exactly the same, as does Chloé’s balcony, and in some ways that’s more of a comfort than he was expecting. He lands on the railing of the balcony and perches there for a moment, staring at the doors. 

He doesn’t wait long.

“Is there an akuma?” Chloé asks, pushing the door open and sticking her head out to frown at him.

“No.”

“Then what are you standing outside in the cold for?” she demands, rolling her eyes at him. “I’ve told you before you can come in when you want, but it creeps me out when you hang out on the railing and stare inside like that.”

Surprised, Chat obediently climbs down from the railing and follows her inside. Her bedroom is a familiar place for Adrien, but not so much for Chat Noir – or so he thinks. Chloé looks completely at ease with a superhero in her bedroom, so he supposes that maybe in this world he visits her often.

Which, if she’s the only other miraculous user, actually makes sense. Without Ladybug, being a superhero would be a lonely job indeed.

“How are you doing?” he asks awkwardly, and Chloé shoots him a disbelieving look.

“That’s what you’re going with?” she says, somewhere between amusement and disdain. “Why are you here, Chat? I’m guessing it’s not just to beg expensive cheese off of me for your kwami.”

“Uh, no. I wanted to know if you’ve been feeling weird lately,” he says.

Chloé’s eyebrows shoot up. “Weird how?”

“Well – I guess I lied before,” he admits. “There is an akuma. But it’s not like any akuma I’ve faced before, and I’m not really sure what to do about it.”

“Tell me more,” Chloé says, not exactly an invitation but more of an order, and Chat is all too willing to concede.

“This isn’t the real world. I have a partner; her name is Ladybug. She and I are meant to fight together, but Hawkmoth created an akuma that erased Ladybug from reality,” he says in a rush. “I can’t defeat the akuma without her. I don’t even think I can draw the akuma out of hiding without her, but I’d need the Ladybug miraculous to know that for sure and Master Fu has it locked up –”

“Breathe. I don’t need you passing out on my floor again,” Chloé interrupts.

Chat sucks in a breath, too overwhelmed to even bother asking about the first time he passed out. She stares at him for a long, silent moment.

“Okay,” she says finally. “I believe you.”

“You believe me?” he repeats, stunned.

“Would you rather I didn’t?” Chloé says, cocking her head.

“Obviously not, but I didn’t think it would be that easy to convince you,” Chat says.

Chloé shrugs. “I’ve said before how stupid I think it is that Fu keeps the Ladybug under wraps. It makes no sense… therefore, it makes perfect sense that it’s all because of Hawkmoth,” she says. “But I’m still not sure where I come into this. Sounds more like you need Ladybug, not me.”

“I do need her,” Chat confesses.

“And I’m assuming that I’m not Ladybug.”

“God no,” Chat says. 

Chloé shoots him a glare and he winces.

“Uh – that came out wrong. It’s just that you’re Queen Bee in every world and I can’t imagine you as anything different,” he says honestly.

“Nice save,” she says, rolling her eyes. “Well. Can’t you just go find Ladybug and ask her to transform?”

“I don’t know who she is,” says Chat.

“Of course you don’t,” Chloé mutters. She drums her nails on the desk. They’re painted with yellow and black stripes, Chat notices.

“It’s for our protection,” he tells her, feeling defensive.

Chloé just shrugs. “Then the solution seems obvious.”

“It does?”

“You need to find someone that the akuma will mistake for Ladybug,” she declares. “It doesn’t have to _be_ Ladybug, just someone who looks enough like her that the akuma will be pissed off and go after her anyway. Then you can do your thing, Ladybug can cast the cure, and boom. Life back to normal.”

Chat blinks at her.

Someone who _looks_ like Ladybug –

_“You told me that Marinette offered her help, right? … Then maybe you should take her up on it.”_

Understanding slaps Chat upside the head with such force that he staggers: the only thing running through his mind is how very much he wants to strangle his damn kwami.


	18. Banana

He sinks down onto Chloé’s bed, knees weak, feeling incredibly stupid for not having put two and two together before now. Marinette has been a miraculous user before, even if she doesn’t remember it. That means Ladybug would approve of Marinette borrowing the Ladybug miraculous, right? 

And they do look similar. Both of them have blue eyes and dark hair – Marinette even wears her hair in pigtails already. There might be a slight height difference between them, but he’s positive that the akuma wouldn’t notice that. Out of everyone he can think of, Marinette would definitely be the ideal fit for drawing the akuma out.

He can’t believe he didn’t realize that before.

He can’t believe Plagg didn’t make it more obvious, the little shit.

“Something tells me you’ve thought of someone,” says Chloé.

“Uh, yeah. I did,” Chat says, deciding against telling her who it is. Marinette and Chloé probably don’t like each other very much in this world either. 

“Good. Then all you have to do is get your hands on the Ladybug miraculous, go to this person, get them to transform, defeat the akuma, and you’re done,” Chloé says, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

“Right.” Chat frowns, realizing that this means Marinette will be involved in an akuma battle. He’s not sure how to feel about that. It makes him feel a little sick to imagine Marinette putting herself in danger – and she will be, even if she keeps her distance, because the akuma will be targeting her. Maybe this isn’t such a smart decision after all…

“What now?” Chloé says with a put-upon sigh.

Chat ignores her attitude and, rather than profess his concern, goes with the obvious worry: “How do I get the Ladybug miraculous? Fu keeps it under lock and key.”

“I don’t know. I don’t even know him,” Chloé says.

“I’ve never introduced you?” Chat says, curious.

“You said that it was better if you didn’t.”

“Ah, for your safety,” Chat says with a nod, and she snorts.

“Not for _my_ safety, for _his_.”

He’s not sure what that means, and the gleam in Chloé’s eyes tells him it’s best not to ask. He falls quiet and watches as Chloé gets up and walks over to her dressing table. She’s already wearing her pajamas; they’re black and patterned with little yellow bananas. Cuter than he would’ve guessed for her, but the color motif makes sense. 

“Say,” Chat says thoughtfully.

“What?” Chloé unties her ponytail, watching him in the mirror.

“I could tell him I need the Bee miraculous, and then I could grab the Ladybug at the same time,” Chat says.

Chloé starts brushing her hair. “We do train sometimes. He’d probably believe you. Though I have a hard time believing you could steal something.”

“I can steal. I’m a regular bad boy!” Chat says defensively.

Very slowly, Chloé turns to stare at him. She doesn’t say a word. Her deadpan expression says it all.

He pouts. “I can do it. I _have_ to do it. For My Lady’s sake.”

“Right,” Chloé says, clearly not convinced.

“I can! And I will,” Chat says, determined. “I’ll need your help too, Chloé. Ma – this person won’t really know what to do with a miraculous. I need Queen Bee there to protect her while I take down the akuma.”

“Okay,” Chloé says instantly, just as eager to help in exchange for her miraculous as she is in the real world, and it warms Chat’s heart a little. 

“Thanks Chloé,” he says. “You’re a good friend.”

Chloé blinks, looking taken aback, and Chat watches in fascination as two spots of color bloom on her cheeks. He can count on one hands the amount of times he’s ever seen Chloé embarrassed. It’s strangely cute, though she would straight-up murder him if she knew he was thinking that.

“Whatever,” Chloé says stiffly. “When do you plan to do this?”

“Tomorrow night,” Chat says, thinking it over. Tomorrow is Saturday. He can slip by Marinette’s tomorrow morning and explain, then go see Master Fu just after sunset. Then it’ll be a matter of handing out the miraculous and dealing with the akuma, hopefully before Master Fu gets a hold of him.

“Fine. Just tell me where I have to be,” says Chloé, and so Chat does.


	19. Tuxedo Chat

Plagg is laughing at him again.

“It’s not funny!” Adrien whines, sinking down onto his bed. 

“Correction, it is absolutely _hilarious_ ,” says Plagg.

“How was I supposed to know that you thought Marinette should be Ladybug?” Adrien says indignantly, sinking down onto his bed. The sun is just cresting the horizon; he spent all night in Chloé’s room, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave. Talking to another miraculous user, even a temporary holder, was refreshing.

“Ah, kid, you’re truly a lost cause,” Plagg says, wiping a tear of laughter from his eye.

Adrien pouts at his kwami, which just makes Plagg snicker again.

“You could’ve been more obvious,” Adrien mutters at last.

Plagg just looks at him and says, “I have given you the biggest clue of your life and when you put two and two together, I demand a dozen wheels of Camembert as compensation.”

“That would cost a fortune!” Adrien says, indignant.

“And if you don’t give me _at least_ a dozen wheels, then for your next battle you’re going to show up as Tuxedo Chat from that anime you love so much so that Ladybug can make fun of you until she cries,” Plagg continues. “Or maybe in something worse yet, like that terrible banana suit you love to wear.”

“That was _one time_!”

“Hmm, I bet I could recreate your Ladybug pajamas,” Plagg says thoughtfully, and Adrien throws his hands up in the air and storms into the bathroom.

He has a headache, probably from a combination of stress and a lack of sleep. He’s thankful that he doesn’t have to suffer through a third day of that photoshoot; sometimes the flashing lights in his face are a bit much and can easily cause a headache to turn into migraine. As it is, when he glances in the mirror, there’s a tell-tale pallor to his skin that not even make-up could hide.

Still, he feels better for having some sort of plan in place. If all goes well, he could see his lady tonight. 

But then what will he do about Marinette?

The smile fades from his face as he contemplates this problem. Nothing has really changed, yet it sort of feels like everything has. He doesn’t think he can just carry on as normal – because if Marinette does truly like him, that means he’s been oblivious to her feelings and that’s not right.

That begs the question, though: does Marinette really like him, or is that something the akuma manufactured?

But why would it do that? Marinette’s feelings for him, or lack hereof, have no bearing on whether Ladybug exists.

So that means it’s probably _not_ the akuma…

Which means Marinette might actually really, honestly, like him.

He was just too dumb to notice.

Adrien sighs and turns the faucet on, then bends down to splash some water on his face. Just thinking about it makes both his head and his heart ache. He loves Ladybug. Like, he _really_ loves her. Loves her confidence, her stubbornness, her determination to see everything through to the end. Loves her kindness, her devotion to the city, her snarky sense of humor. Loves _her_.

But Marinette…

Marinette is sweet and kind and stubborn and courageous too. She has many similar qualities to Ladybug – there’s a reason Adrien has called her their “everyday Ladybug”. And the way she _smiles_ when she talks about Adrien; it’s enough to make a boy weak at the knees. 

_“You can love more than one person, okay? Humans, honestly! You’re not betraying Ladybug by liking Marinette, you know. You’re not even_ dating _Ladybug. And you can tell yourself that Marinette is just your friend all you want, but the fact that you’re happily dating her in a world where there is no Ladybug speaks volumes.”_

Once again, Plagg’s words flash through his mind. And he’s right, isn’t he? With no Ladybug, Adrien sees the other people around him. He sees Marinette.

Ladybug has been gentle but firm when it comes to Chat Noir’s advances. He’s always promised to devote himself to her, but, if he’s being honest, he thinks Ladybug would be happy if he told her he had found someone else. She would be happy for him, happy that their partnership is no longer weighed down, and happy that she doesn’t have to worry about breaking his heart.

So maybe…

Ugh, he hates it when Plagg is right.


	20. Cat got your tongue

Shortly before noon, and about ten minutes before Adrien Agreste is due at a publicity event for his father’s company, Chat Noir drops down onto Marinette’s balcony and pads over to the window. Her curtains are drawn back, so he can see that she’s in her room. Unsurprisingly, she’s hard at work on the t-shirts. Chat hates to bother her, but, given that he’s short on time, gently raps on the window.

Marinette visibly jumps and whips around. The way her face lights up when she sees him does funny things to his heart that he doesn’t want to think about - _can’t_ think about right now, as she clambers up onto the bed and pulls the window open.

“Chat, what are you doing here?” she asks, smiling up at him. “I didn’t know you were coming by this morning.”

“Do you remember when you said you’d help me if I needed it?” Chat asks. He’s still not sure about putting Marinette in danger, but he’s out of options and she’s the best choice. The only choice.

“Of course. What do you need?” Marinette says.

“I need you to use the Ladybug miraculous and pretend to be Ladybug,” Chat blurts out. It’s not how he means to tell her, but somehow the whole story about the akuma and Ladybug’s disappearance spills out before he can stop himself.

Marinette listens in silence, blinking. When she remains quiet even after he’s finished, Chat winces.

“Cat got your tongue?” he asks, giving her arm a gentle poke and hoping he hasn’t ruined everything.

“Uh – sorry. That was – a lot,” Marinette says. “So… just to make sure we’re on the same page… Ladybug no longer exists, and you don’t know who she is – was – so you need me to pretend to be her to draw the akuma out?”

Chat nods. “I can try to transform using the Ladybug miraculous first, but honestly I think it would be a waste of the time. The akuma didn’t hate the miraculous; it hated Ladybug.”

“Why?” Marinette says, looking curious.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Chat says with a sigh. There are lots of reasons, none of which make sense to him. But he’s been a celebrity for most of his life and he knows that when you’re in the limelight, hatred and love go hand-in-hand whether they make sense or not. 

“Right.”

“Queen Bee will be there too. I’ve asked her to protect you while I deal with the akuma. We’re going to do everything we can to make sure you’re not in danger,” Chat tells her. “All you have to do is cast the miraculous cure that will set everything right again… and maybe cast a Lucky Charm, but that’s not hard.”

Marinette nods slowly. “Why me?”

“You have the same hair and eye color as Ladybug, and you’re built similarly. And… I trust you,” Chat admits. It feels like a huge confession and he feels himself blushing slightly. But it’s the truth. He doesn’t know that he could hand the Ladybug miraculous over to anyone else.

She stares at him for a long, intent moment, then says, “Okay.”

“Okay?” Chat repeats, a little surprised.

Marinette smiles at him. “I did say I’d do anything I could to help, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, but this goes a little beyond the realm of normal help,” says Chat.

“I believe you when you say you’ll protect me. I trust you too,” Marinette says, and the look in her eyes is overwhelming. 

He swallows hard, forcing himself to respond. “Thank you, Marinette. I’ll be back around 5pm, okay?”

“Sure. I’ll be here waiting,” she says. “If I work hard, I can get the shirts done today.” She gestures over her shoulder at the piles behind her.

“Great,” Chat breathes faintly.

Her smile widens. “Maybe after this is all over, you can introduce me to the real Ladybug. I’d like to meet your partner. We could have some cake together.”

“You’ve already met her, but absolutely,” Chat says, though he knows that seeing Ladybug and Marinette in the same room together is going to be the death of him. Then again, maybe it’ll help him figure out what he’s going to do next.

“Do you want to come in and keep me company in the meantime?” Marinette asks.

“I wish I could, but I have a – a thing,” Chat replies glumly. He would much rather spend the afternoon on Marinette’s comfortable chaise, but his father would be furious and that would be the death of Adrien’s chances of going to the Kitty Section concert. 

If he’s still welcome at the concert after the world changes back, he really wants to be there.

“Oh, okay. Well, I’ll see you tonight,” Marinette says. “Bye.”

“Bye,” Chat whispers, and forces himself to leave.


	21. Fireworks

The day drags. Adrien had to put on a fake smile and play the part of a good little son for hours. The second he can slip away, during a moment when his father and Nathalie are distracted by the cameras and the Gorilla isn’t looking, he does so. He ducks into the bathroom and locks the door behind him, breathing a sigh of relief.

“You ready for this, kid?” Plagg asks, emerging from Adrien’s shirt pocket.

“Yeah, I am,” Adrien says. “I’m gonna take that akuma down.”

“Right,” Plagg says. He hesitates, which is unusual for Plagg, before adding, “Just – remember what you’ve learned about Marinette, okay?”

“Okay?” Adrien says, confused. “Plagg, claws out!”

As the green light fades away, he unlocks the door and then scrambles out the bathroom window. Hoping that no one saw him leave, Chat Noir takes to the roofs. Calm settles through him as he gets closer to Master Fu’s, soothing the nerves that have plagued him all day. After all, this isn’t really stealing. The Ladybug miraculous belongs to Ladybug. So in a way, he’s only returning it to its rightful owner.

He opens the back door with more confidence this time and calls out, “Master Fu, are you in?”

There’s only a slight pause before Master Fu pokes his head around the corner. “Ah, Chat Noir. What can I do for you? Is there an akuma?”

“No,” Chat says. “But I’ve been thinking about some new moves and I need someone to practice against. Can I borrow the Bee miraculous for the night?”

“Of course. Just make sure that you bring it back.” Master Fu walks into the outer room with Chat following close behind him. He watches as Master Fu takes the phonograph from the stand and sets it on the table, then presses the buttons to unlock it. The compartments slide open, reveling all of the miraculous. Master Fu reaches for the Bee miraculous.

Chat grits his teeth and moves quickly, giving Master Fu a sharp push with his left hand. Hard enough to topple the man over. With his right hand, he grabs the Ladybug and Bee miraculouses and then sprints for the door.

“Chat Noir!” Master Fu bellows as he runs out.

“I am in so much trouble,” Chat whispers, jumping up to the roofs. He glances behind him as he runs, half-expecting to see a very angry guardian chasing him, and isn’t sure whether to be surprised or concerned that the rooftops remain empty. 

Chloé is waiting for him in their agreed upon place. She gives a disbelieving laugh when he lands. “Oh my god, you actually did it.”

“I did,” Chat says numbly, handing her the Bee miraculous. Chloé grabs his hand, pulling his fingers open, and they both look down at the red, black-spotted earrings. They look so small, so innocent. No one would ever realize how much power they have.

“Kudos to you, Chat, I didn’t know if you would,” says Chloé. She affixes the comb in her hair. 

“I told you that I had to,” says Chat. He’s filled with a weird combination of guilt and determination; he thought long and hard about explaining the situation to Master Fu, but in the end he and Plagg agreed that there was too much risk that Master Fu wouldn’t believe him and might even hide the phonograph away somewhere to keep the Ladybug miraculous out of Chat’s reach. 

He’s sure that all will be forgiven once Ladybug is back.

Well, like 80% sure.

“Pollen, buzz on!” Chloé calls out. Yellow light swirls around her.

“Looking good, Queen Bee,” Chat says.

“I’m ready for the fireworks,” Queen Bee says. “So go get your new partner and make it quick.”

Chat salutes her and heads for the bakery. Marinette is sitting out on her balcony tonight, her attention on her phone – but as he nears, she looks up and scans the horizon and he realizes that she’s not really focused one her phone; she’s waiting for him. His stomach twists pleasantly as he lands on the railing.

“Bonsoir,” he says, tipping an imaginary hat to her, and she giggles.

“You have it?” she asks, scrambling to her feet.

“Yup. Here.” Chat passes her the earrings. 

“That’s it?” Marinette says skeptically, peering at them.

“Mine’s a ring, remember?” Chat says, wiggling his fingers at her. 

“Yeah… I guess. Okay. What do I do?”

“Put them in your ears and say ‘Tikki, spots on’,” he says.

Marinette does so, sliding the miraculous into her ears, and then jumps with a little shriek when Tikki appears. Tikki gives herself a shake and looks around with obvious confusion. Her eyes get really big when she sees Marinette, and even bigger when she sees Chat. She opens her mouth to speak –

“Tikki, spots on!”


	22. Kiss

The familiar red light flashes so bright that Chat’s eyes sting, but he can’t bring himself to look away. He watches with breathless anticipation as the light fades, revealing Marinette –

No.

“Well? How do I look?” Ladybug says, turning towards him with a nervous smile. The red, black-spotted suit fits her like a glove, of course. Her hair is still gathered into pigtails, now tied with red ribbons as opposed to the pale pink ties Marinette favors. The mask sits over the top of her face, obscuring everything from the bridge of her nose up except for her eyes.

Her beautiful blue eyes.

 _Ladybug’s_ eyes.

“Fuck,” Chat breathes.

Her smiles falls. “Is it that bad?”

“No! It’s – ah, shit. I messed up,” Chat says helplessly, drinking in the sight of her.

Because it _is_ her. His lady. Standing right here before him, where she’s been since this whole mess began, looking exactly like she did before the akuma’s magic came into effect – identical uniform and all. Chat has to grip the balcony railing to keep from falling off as a whole bunch of realizations slam into him at the same time.

Marinette is Ladybug.

Marinette is in love with Adrien.

He closes his eyes for a moment, unable to dwell on the sheer irony of it all, and pushes past that for the time being to the next thought…

Which is that Plagg’s known about this from day one.

No wonder Plagg has been pushing him to visit Marinette, Chat thinks, torn between wanting to laugh and wanting to strangle his kwami. Plagg knew that Marinette was exactly what Chat needed. But of course, he couldn’t or wouldn’t come right out and _say_ that because that would make life too easy.

“Chat?” Ladybug says, now wringing her hands together, and Chat is struck all over again but how damn _stupid_ he’s been. 

_He literally called Marinette an “everyday Ladybug”._

“Chat,” Ladybug repeats, firmer this time. 

“Sorry!” he says, snapping to attention. There will be time to think about how much evidence has been staring him in the face all along later. Right now, they have to deal with the akuma.

“What’s wrong?” Ladybug’s face creases into worry, her nose wrinkling up. It’s a variation of the face she makes when she’s trying to figure out how to defeat an akuma, different only in that there’s concerned fondness in her eyes because this time she’s trying to figure out _him_. 

“It’s nothing. I just – seeing you transform with the miraculous was harder than I thought it would be,” he says, deciding to go with some variation of the truth. He doesn’t think it’s right to tell her that apparently, she’s always been Ladybug and that she’s just outed herself to her partner. Besides, she’ll know as soon as she casts the cure.

The cure.

He swallows, suddenly nervous. What if Ladybug is mad? What if she hates him for inadvertently stumbling onto the truth? What if she doesn’t believe that it was an accident? What if –

“Oh, I see. Don’t worry, Chat. We’ll stop this akuma and save your partner!” Ladybug says fiercely, stepping forward and putting her hand on his arm. 

Chat has to take a deep breath through the sudden, fierce swell of pure love that consumes him. He’s pretty sure he falls in love with her, _all_ of her, again in that moment.

“You’re right. We can do anything together,” he says, giving her what he’s sure is a love-soaked smile. “Now… I should give you a quick rundown on your weapon. This is your yoyo. When the akuma appears, throw it in the air and call out ‘Lucky Charm’. It’ll give you something to help us win. Then, once the akuma is defeated, catch the black butterfly in your yoyo to purify it. Then you can cast your cure by throwing your Lucky Charm in the air.”

“And what do I say when I do that?” Ladybug asks, looking like she’s working hard at memorizing what he’s saying.

“Miraculous Ladybug,” Chat says softly. He’s seized with the urge to take her hand and kiss her knuckles, but refrains. This Ladybug has a boyfriend who isn’t him – or not that she knows anyway – and it’s not fair to take advantage.

“Miraculous Ladybug,” she repeats, and smiles. “Okay, I’m ready. Let’s do this!”


	23. Blush

Watching Ladybug fly across the rooftops is a surreal experience. Consciously she may not remember anything, but she moves with the yoyo like it’s an extension of her body. Chat follows close behind her, and for a precious moment it’s like nothing at all has changed.

But then Ladybug lets out a panicked squeal and flounders at the apex of her swing, and then she’s plummeting towards the ground. Chat instantly kicks off the building and throws himself after her, grabbing her around the waist and effortlessly flipping them over so that his feet hit the ground first. Her weight settles into his arms and Ladybug freezes, her eyes wide. One hand grips his shoulder; the other holds her yoyo to her chest.

“Are you okay?” Chat asks, looking her over worriedly.

“I – I’m – I’m fine,” Ladybug stammers, a blush coloring her cheeks.

Chat frowns in confusion. “Are you sure? Is this too much?”

“N-no. It’s f-fine,” she squeaks, shaking her head so hard the tips of her pigtails slap against her cheeks.

“Um… okay,” Chat says doubtfully, gently setting her on her feet. She takes a step away from him, pressing her hands to her face. 

“Gag me.”

Ladybug jumps. Chat just rolls his eyes.

“Hello to you too, Queenie,” he says, pivoting on one heel. 

The look on Queen Bee’s face is priceless. It takes everything he has not to laugh.

“Queenie?” Ladybug says, interested. “Is that your nickname?”

“ _No_!” Queen Bee practically screeches. “So help me god, Chat Noir, if you call me that again I’ll –”

He doesn’t get to hear the rest of her threat, which is honestly a shame because Chloé Bourgeois is nothing if not inventive, because the air shifts above them and Chat reacts without even thinking about it. He throws himself at Ladybug and extends the tip of his baton in Queen Bee’s, pushing her back and to the right. Something gushes down where they were standing.

“Oh my god, what is that?” Ladybug cries. She’s pinned between the wall and Chat’s body, but she can see over his shoulder. Chat turns his neck to see.

“That would be the akuma,” he says grimly, staring at the oozing purple magic covering the ground. “I think we’ve been noticed.”

“Oh,” Ladybug says faintly, her eyes huge. “Yay?”

“Chat!” Queen Bee yells, throwing her stinger up. It snags on something high above them and jerks her off the ground. Chat decides she has the way of it and turns to Ladybug.

“Sorry about this,” he says, winding an arm around her waist. 

“Sorry for what?” Ladybug says, her cheeks pinkening.

Rather than respond, he grips his baton again and hits the button a second time – this time, he thrusts the opposite end against the cement. Ladybug squeals as they’re launched into the air and over the roof. Chat shifts her weight as they land on the roof, letting his baton retract back into his hand. Queen Bee lands behind them as he lets go of a shaken Ladybug.

“Protect Ladybug,” he tells Queen Bee. 

“Got it,” Queen Bee says grimly, taking up a stance in front of Ladybug.

“Chat?” Ladybug says, looking frightened.

He doesn’t have the luxury of time to comfort her no matter how much he wants to. Chat extends his baton a little and jumps forward, swinging his baton down hard. It strikes metal hard enough to make his forearms throb with the impact, and a loud _clang_ rings through the air.

The akuma slowly materializes, her face painted with rage. “How dare you!” she snarls in Chat’s face. “I want a world without Ladybug!”

“And you got one! It’s not my fault that Ladybug will always be here,” Chat retorts, skipping back a step. He eyes her staff warily; it’s the source of her magic, but he doesn’t think that’s where the akuma is. Before the world changed, Ladybug seemed to think they should be aiming for the akuma’s necklace. She’s usually right, so Chat’s going to run with it. The problem is, as it’s always been, getting close enough to grab it.

She screeches wordlessly and aims her staff at him, which is his cue to run. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Queen Bee getting Ladybug out of the way and is silently thankful for her help. He lands behind the akuma and comes up swinging, forcing it back on the defence. From behind him, there’s furious whispering followed by a familiar cry.

“Lucky Charm!”


	24. Confession

Chat pivots, letting out a grunt as the akuma slams its staff into his baton with renewed force, and takes a quick glance in Ladybug’s direction just as a red, black-spotted sneaker falls into Ladybug’s hands. The look of absolute befuddlement on her face would be amusing under any other circumstances, and he realizes that he probably should’ve explained things better than just saying ‘it’ll give you something to help us with’.

That’s a confession and an apology he can make to her later, if they all come out of this in one piece.

“Chat, what do I do with this?” Ladybug cries, brandishing the shoe in his direction.

“Try to – ack!” Chat gasps for breath at the kick to his chest, staggering backwards, and just barely dodges another blast of purple magic.

More blasts come, forcing him to go on the defence by running. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Ladybug and Queen Bee having a furious, whispered conversation. Queen Bee gestures to the akuma, to which Ladybug shrugs. Chat grits his teeth and has a half-second to regret not having better explained before he pays for his lack of focus.

The akuma lets out a triumphant shout as one of the blasts catches Chat in the arm; he cries out in pain and stumbles, falling to his knees. It _burns_ with a ferocity that leaves him gasping, and the burning only seems to get worse the longer it goes on – like acid.

“Chat!” Ladybug screams.

“Get the hell away from him!” That’s Queen Bee, furious and not afraid to say it; she charges in between Chat and the akuma, swinging her stinger.

“Queen Bee – Ladybug!” Chat chokes out, trying to get to his feet. His heart is hammering and the world swims unpleasantly. Usually the suit protects them, but it’s like the purple goo is eating straight through it –

“Leave him alone!” Ladybug shouts. She gets behind the akuma in the confusion and chucks her Lucky Charm at the akuma’s head. It bounces off, landing near Chat, and the akuma shrieks in rage.

“I’ll get rid of you yet, Ladybug!” the akuma screeches, swinging around.

This is the point in the battle where things go bad, Chat realizes with a flush of growing dismay. With him momentarily incapacitated, Ladybug will challenge the akuma alone and get overwhelmed. She has no idea what she’s doing, after all, and has no previous experience to draw on. He can see it all happening in his mind’s eye, and he pushes himself to his feet with a choked-off gasp of pain, wanting, _needing_ , to protect her.

But they’ve all forgotten about one thing.

With an enraged snarl of “Venom!” Queen Bee grabs her stinger and shoves it into the akuma’s back.

Chat freezes in shock.

The akuma sputters out something unintelligible. Its staff falls from its hand, hitting the ground, and the akuma follows shortly after. 

There’s a long, tense silence.

Then Ladybug exhales and says shakily, “What do we do now?”

“We have to find and break its akumatized object,” Queen Bee says, stalking over to the akuma. “Chat, what is it?”

“Um – Ladybug thought it was the necklace,” Chat says dumbly.

Queen Bee bends down and takes the akuma’s necklace into hand. It’s fashioned from small gold links, with a silver heart at the end. Not something that an akuma usually wears. One quick yank and the necklace breaks.

A black butterfly rises into the air as a smoky grey liquid bubbles up around the akuma and then vanishes, leaving behind a baffled young man.

“Ladybug, quickly!” Chat says, turning to her.

“Uh – uh – right!” Ladybug says, flinging out her yoyo. She says none of the usual spell that she normally does when catching an akuma, and Chat nearly groans when he realizes that he didn’t tell her any of it.

Yet it seems to work regardless: when she slides a finger over the yoyo, the purified akuma flutters out and away.

“What happened?” the man asks, looking around at them. There’s a familiar expression of dawning horror on his face as he begins to grasp what must have happened.

Queen Bee sighs. “I’ll deal with him,” she says to Chat. “Come on.” She pulls the young man to his feet, grabs him by the arm, and pulls him through the door to the emergency stairwell that will take them safely to the ground. The door swing shuts behind them, leaving Chat Noir and Ladybug alone.


	25. Blep

For a long moment, Chat can’t bring himself to look at her. He stares, instead, at a large billboard across the street as though it’s the most fascinating thing he’s ever seen. The model, an older woman that he’s not familiar with, is posed beside a small black kitten that’s doing a ‘blep face’; she’s laughing and holding up a can of cat food, which is what they’re advertising.

He's staring so hard he doesn’t see Ladybug approach until it’s too late.

“Chat?” Ladybug whispers, a second before her hand grazes his arm and sends a rush of tingles up his spine.

“What?” Chat turns his head and suddenly realizes that she’s very close. He jerks back, swallowing.

Ladybug bites her lip, dropping her gaze, saying nothing. 

Instantly, he feels like a jerk. “Sorry, I – that was a rougher battle than I thought it would be.” He looks down at his other arm, the one she didn’t touch. The purple goo has melted away, but the skin under his suit continues to throb.

“Right. I’ll just cast the cure, then,” Ladybug says, stepping back. She walks over to where her Lucky Charm is laying on the roof and bends down to pick it up.

“You did good,” Chat says gently. “Really good.”

The praise makes her brighten up momentarily before she wilts again. “I didn’t do very much. You and Queen Bee took care of everything.”

“Well, we’re the ones with experience. In a situation like this, when you’re not sure what to do, letting other people act is the best thing you can do,” Chat says. He wants to add more but restrains himself. In another few seconds, it won’t matter anyway because she’ll remember everything.

Or at least, he hopes she will. For the first time, he contemplates the possibility that Ladybug _won’t_ remember. That maybe he won’t remember either.

It’s happened before. Their memories from what happened when Oblivio attacked have never returned, and Chat’s tried so hard to remember that he’s given himself a migraine.

He looks away again, staring hard at the billboard. It should make him smile, but instead there’s a lump in his throat. He can’t bear the thought of forgetting all that he’s learned. Marinette’s feelings for Adrien, his own feelings for Marinette, Ladybug’s identity – he _can’t bear it_.

“Are you okay?” Ladybug asks him.

Chat turns back to her. She’s silhouetted in sunlight, leaving her face shadowed. The golden light makes her look like some divine beauty, untouchable by someone like him.

“I’m fine,” he whispers. “My arm… it still hurts.”

“Oh gosh, I didn’t realize.” Ladybug moves towards him, into the shade, and the genuine concern in her face hurts more than his arm.

“I love you,” he tells her quietly, impulsively.

She gasps.

He memorizes how she looks at that moment, eyes wide, lips parted, hair blowing in the breeze.

The sharp beep of her miraculous splits the air. Chat’s eyes dart to her earrings. She’s down to two dots.

“Do it,” he says, clenching his hands into fists. Whether they remember, whether they don’t, she has to do it now.

Ladybug breathes out quietly and, after a beat of hesitation, throws her Lucky Charm in the air and calls out, “Miraculous Ladybug!”

The Lucky Charm explodes into thousands of miniature ladybugs that flood out across the city. They swarm over Chat and he instantly feels relief: the pain in his chest and arm subsides as though it never existed. He blinks once and they’re gone, leaving just him and Ladybug standing on the roof together again.

He remembers.

When she opens her eyes, he knows that she does too.

Her expression is calm at first, but then the realization hits. Her eyes go wide, this time with horror. She looks right at Chat and the look on her face cuts him to his core. 

He opens his mouth, not even sure what he’ll say –

And she’s gone.

Chat watches her go, that red blur scrambling over the far side of a building in the span of a few seconds, and feels a pain deep in his chest that the cure can’t fix. He can’t know for sure, but he thinks he might have just lost his lady. He crumbles to the rooftop.


	26. Toe beans

“Maybe it’s not that bad, kid,” Plagg says quietly.

“You didn’t see her face,” Adrien tells the rooftop, closing his eyes. He’s not sure how long he stayed here before his transformation came undone; Plagg didn’t even need to ask questions about what had happened, discerning everything just from the devastated look on Adrien’s face.

“But she loves you,” says Plagg.

“You knew that all along and you didn’t tell me,” Adrien says, lifting his head. The ire he felt towards his kwami is gone, replaced by regret. It’s not Plagg’s fault that he was too dense to notice what was right in front of his face.

“You didn’t want to hear it,” Plagg says, much more gently than usual. “Adrien, listen to me. Ladybug is freaking out right now. She just needs some time, but she’ll come around.”

Adrien swallows. “You sure about that?”

“As sure as I am that Camembert is the best cheese in the world,” Plagg says, which is pretty damn sure.

“Then what do I do?” Adrien asks plaintively, looking up at him. He can’t even take solace in the cute sight of Plagg’s toe beans, which normally never fail to make him smile. For such a grumpy kwami, Plagg is unfairly adorable sometimes.

Plagg’s expression softens. “Well, first of all you should pick yourself up off the ground. You need to transform and go get the Bee miraculous from Queen Bee. You have to return it to Master Fu. Then you should go home, eat dinner, and go to sleep.”

“But –”

“But nothing,” Plagg interrupts. “Let Marinette have a couple of days. Tikki will be able to calm her down. Then you can go talk to her and explain things.”

A few days. Adrien contemplates that for a moment and realizes that he likes the sound of it. He needs a couple of days too, to wrap his head around everything that’s happened, and to figure out what he’s going to say to Marinette. It’s Saturday, which means he can spend tomorrow avoiding her. Monday will be awkward, though. He winces at what must be going through Marinette’s head, knowing that, however briefly, they dated.

“This is going to suck,” he says with a sigh, digging around in his pocket until he produces a wedge of cheese.

“Probably not as much as you think,” says Plagg, accepting the cheese and stuffing it in his mouth.

“Come again?”

“You love Marinette. Marinette loves you. You love Ladybug. Ladybug loves…” Plagg trails, giving him a significant look. 

Adrien’s ready to say that Ladybug loves Adrien, and _only_ Adrien, so he’s not sure what that means for Chat Noir. But then he thinks about the pictures of Chat Noir on Marinette’s wall, and the way Ladybug blushed when he saved her from the akuma. And even before then, the way she smiles at his jokes and hugs him just a bit too tightly whenever he says it’s the two of them against the world.

Maybe…

“I should go get the Bee miraculous,” he says, forcibly wrenching his mind away from that path. Hoping is too painful sometimes.

Plagg sighs. “I’m ready.”

“Claws out,” Adrien says, punching the air. Green light surrounds him, and he gets up, heading in the direction of Le Grand Paris. Queen Bee’s minutes were numbered when she left, so he suspects she went home.

Sure enough, Chloé is sitting on the balcony with Pollen on her knee. The two of them seem to be having an intense, whispered conversation. Chat lands on the railing just in time to see Pollen fly up and nuzzle Chloé’s cheek, and – he blinks, shocked, because surely that can’t be a telltale glimmer of wetness in Chloé’s eyes?

“About time you got here. I was starting to think I was going to have to keep it,” Chloé says, but Chat doesn’t miss the wistful note to her voice.

“Not this time,” he says gently. There’s more to Chloé Bourgeois than anyone knows. Next to Ladybug, she’s the miraculous holder that Chat trusts the most. Now that he better understands the contempt that Ladybug has for Chloé, he wonders if there’s a possibility that some bridges can be mended.

“That was a really weird fight,” Chloé says, and Chat glances at her. 

“I know. It was,” he agrees.

“Your choice of Ladybug was a good one,” she says, her eyes intent on Chat’s face. Too intent. Too knowing. He has to look away.

“Yeah, it was,” he rasps. “Thanks for your help.” He holds his hand out.

“Anytime,” Chloé says, very quiet, and sets the Bee miraculous in his palm.


	27. Kitten Noir

“You can do this,” Chat mutters to himself, staring apprehensively at the backdoor to Master Fu’s shop. His fingers tighten around the Bee miraculous and he takes a deep breath. 

He knows he has to do this, but that doesn’t make it any easier to turn the knob and enter.

“Hello, Chat Noir.”

“Hi,” Chat says meekly, stopping short when he realizes that Master Fu is standing there with his arms crossed and a severe look on his face. He desperately wishes that Ladybug would kick the door down, or that Pegasus would appear and portal him away, or that Bunnix would show up and drag him to a future where this isn’t happening – even if he does have to put with her calling him ‘Kitten Noir’, it would be worth it to escape this conversation.

“Please come in,” Master Fu says, his tone making is clear that it’s not an invitation, but an order.

Chat obeys, closing the door and following Master Fu into the other room. The phonograph is already on the table. He kneels on the pillows, setting the Bee miraculous down. Master Fu instantly kneels and takes the Bee miraculous, setting it back in its compartment.

“I’m sorry,” Chat blurts out when the quiet becomes too much. “I hope I didn’t hurt you when I pushed you.”

Master Fu sighs. “No, you didn’t. I was more surprised than anything… surprised and confused. What were you thinking?”

“I needed the Ladybug miraculous. I had – someone in mind,” Chat says, just barely stopping himself from admitting _who_ he had in mind. He needs to talk to Marinette first. “I knew I would need her help to get the akuma to come out of hiding. It hated Ladybug, you see, and wanted to erase her, so Chat Noir or Mister Bug weren’t enough.”

“So it did,” Master Fu murmurs, closing the phonograph and locking it. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t think you would believe me,” Chat admits. 

“Why not?”

And maybe it’s Plagg’s influence, or maybe Chat is just tired, but the truth comes tumbling out.

“Because you never tell me anything. You didn’t even want to tell me that you existed. It wasn’t until Ladybug _made_ you, and even then you only told me the barest minimum. You didn’t even tell me that you were training Ladybug to be a guardian! I didn’t even know most of the miraculous existed, or what they did, or how they worked! You don’t trust me, not really, so how am I supposed to trust you?”

Master Fu just sits there for a moment, blinking.

“I thought you wouldn’t believe me and that you might even take my miraculous away,” Chat concludes, heart hammering. “In – in that world, you were mad when I even asked about the Ladybug miraculous…”

“Because I didn’t have an appropriate holder in mind,” Master Fu says. “The memories are fuzzy, but I remember that you had asked me about the Ladybug miraculous and why you didn’t have a partner several times before… Why didn’t you just tell me you had found someone?”

“There wasn’t time. You would’ve wanted to investigate her and that would’ve left the akuma running free for even longer,” Chat says, finally looking up and meeting Master Fu’s gaze. He’s sorry that he had to hurt Master Fu, but he’s not really sorry that he did what he did. He would do it again if he had to, for Ladybug. For Marinette. 

“I see,” Master Fu says at last. “I do trust you, Adrien.”

Chat says nothing to that, because he can’t think of anything polite to say and he doesn’t want to be ruder than he already has. Because he thinks that’s probably not the whole truth – from day one Master Fu has always been about Ladybug, and the only reason Chat Noir exists is because Ladybug needs him – but right now, he’s also not sure that it matters anymore.

He’s getting used to adults never trusting him and never telling him anything. It doesn’t sting as much as it used to. To be at Ladybug’s side, he can put up with worse.

“Thank you for returning the Bee miraculous and thank you for dealing with the akuma and restoring Ladybug’s memories,” Master Fu says. 

“Of course,” Chat says shortly, getting to his feet. 

“If you like, we could have a few sessions where I tell you about the miraculous,” he says, like a peace offering.

“I’ll think about it,” Chat tells him, knowing that he’ll never take Master Fu up on that. It’s too late now. He’s already learned about half of them from Ladybug; he would rather she told him about the rest, and if she won’t then he’ll learn in time as they gain new teammates.

Master Fu just nods, and Chat takes his leave.


	28. Lights out

Unsurprisingly, Ladybug doesn’t show for their usual Sunday night patrol. Chat does a quick loop around before heading home and going to bed for yet another restless night – he spends several hours trying to figure out what he’s supposed to say to Marinette when he sees her again before finally falling asleep for a little while. So he’s tired when he drags himself out of bed Monday morning.

The Gorilla drops him off at school. Everyone seems subdued as he walks towards the classroom. Even Nino’s usual enthusiastic greeting is lackluster, with only a half-hearted fist bump. For the first time, Adrien wonders what Nino’s life was like without Ladybug. He didn’t get to see any of his classmates during those past couple of days. Did their lives change that much?

Well, Marinette’s did. He turns around, looking at her empty seat, and Alya looks up.

“Mari’s out sick today,” she says.

“Oh,” Adrien says in a small voice, torn between disappointment and relief. He doesn’t think he can see Marinette without blurting out the truth, and that would be pretty awkward in the middle of their classroom.

Alya’s eyes narrow slightly. “What were you going to say to her?”

“What do you mean?” Adrien asks, confused.

“You do remember what happened, right?” Nino says in a hushed voice. “That you and Marinette were dating?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“So what are you going to do about it?” Alya says aggressively. “You better not be planning to break her heart, Agreste, or I’ll break your model face and it’ll be lights out for you.”

Adrien blinks at her.

“Alya, seriously? That’s a little over the top,” says Nino.

Alya sighs. “I’m sorry. I just – I just want to protect Marinette.”

That’s a feeling Adrien can get behind. He clears his throat. “I’m not going to break Marinette’s heart. Or at least, I hope not. I’d like it to be just the opposite, actually.”

Both Nino and Alya look at him. Then Alya’s eyes widen.

“Wait, are you saying that you want to _keep_ dating Marinette?” she gasps.

“Ah.” Adrien flushes. “Maybe? If she wants to? It’s certainly not off the table…” After all, he was thinking about it before he found out that Marinette was Ladybug. Now that he _knows_? It’s a done deal if only she’ll have him.

But he doesn’t think it’s right to tell Alya and Nino that first.

“Oh my gosh,” Alya breathes, clasping her hands over her chest.

“Dude! That’s so cool!” Nino says. “What brought on the change of heart? Last time I talked to you, you were adamant that Marinette was just a friend.”

“Thinking that I was dating Marinette made me realize how much I do care for her, and that she makes everything better when she’s around,” Adrien says carefully. “It made me realize certain things that I wasn’t ready to face before. I want that.”

“Aww,” Alya says. “That’s so cute! Marinette is gonna freak out.”

“I’m pretty sure she already has,” Adrien says, grimacing a little.

“She’ll get over it,” Nino says confidently. 

“I hope so… and I hope she can forgive me for being so dense,” Adrien says.

Alya smiles at that. “Luckily for you, Marinette finds your denseness really cute.”

“Um… thanks?”

“When are you gonna talk to her?” Nino asks.

“Tonight,” says Adrien.

“Cool,” says Nino, and this time his fist bump is much more energetic.

“What do you think?” Alya says, turning her phone to them.

Adrien glances at the screen and freezes.

“You’re adding Chat Noir to the banner on the Ladyblog?” Nino says, leaning in closer.

“Yeah. That akuma made me realize that he does a lot more for Paris than people think. It’s easy to think that it’s all Ladybug because she casts the cure, you know? But Chat Noir is always there too, doing whatever it takes to protect people. And he _really_ saved our butts this time.” Alya adjusts her glasses and smiles again. “It just seemed right. I should’ve done it a lot time ago; he and Ladybug are two halves of a whole, after all.”

“I think it looks great,” Nino says. He goes up on one knee to press a light kiss or approval to Alya’s mouth.

“Me too,” Adrien whispers. It’s all he can force out around the lump in his throat as he looks at the banner. It’s now a picture of him and Ladybug fist bumping. It’s still called the Ladyblog, of course, but along the bottom of the banner are words that nearly make him cry.

_Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir_


	29. Pajamas

As the sun finally sets, Chat crawls out his window and heads for the Dupain-Cheng bakery. He’s half-expecting to see Marinette on her balcony waiting for him, but of course she’s not: there’s nothing but a few plants, swaying in the early evening breeze. He lands lightly on the balcony and slowly reaches out to tap on the window.

For a long moment, there’s nothing.

His heart sinks.

But then the curtain shifts and Marinette’s face appears. She stares at him, her expression somewhere between tired and panicked, hair down around her shoulders and already dressed in her pajamas for the night. After few seconds during which the two of them just stare at each other, seconds which seem to last forever, Chat lifts a hand and wiggles his fingers in greeting.

Marinette’s shoulders slump, but she reaches up and unlatches the window. “What are you doing here?” she asks, pushing it open.

“I needed to see you,” he admits. “Marinette… please, can we talk?”

Her lips purse, and he honestly thinks she’s going to turn him away, but then she gives a reluctant nod. “Alright. I suppose we have to sooner or later. Come on in.”

Chat breathes a sigh of relief; he feels like getting inside is a significant first step. He follows her through the window, avoiding her bed and instead pivoting mid-air to land on her floor. The first thing he sees is Tikki, sitting on Marinette’s desk beside the sewing machine. His chest constricts at the sight of the kwami, because seeing Tikki there makes it all impossibly real.

“Hi,” Tikki says, her eyes searching Chat’s face.

“Hi Tikki,” he says quietly, reaching out to gently pat her on the head. Maybe, if he and Marinette can get through this, he can spend more time with Tikki. She seems really sweet compared to Plagg.

“How are you doing?” Tikki asks kindly.

“I’m okay,” Chat says with a tiny smile. “That akuma was a lot harder to deal with than I thought it would be.”

There’s a sharp intake of breath behind him and then suddenly Marinette is there, crowding into his space and looking him up and down. “Oh my god, I totally forgot – you’re okay, aren’t you? The miraculous cure healed you?” She grabs his arm and pulls it in front of her face, patting at the material as though she can feel through it to his now-healed skin underneath.

Chat’s smile widens, his nerves melting away. “I’m fine. All good now.”

Marinette exhales, finally looking up into his face. Seeming to realize their proximity, she edges back a step. “I’m sorry. I really was useless during that fight.”

“You didn’t know what you were doing,” he reminds her.

“That’s not excuse. You got hurt, and – ” She swallows. “And because I forgot… now you know.”

“I know,” Chat agrees quietly. “I hope that _you_ know that I really wasn’t trying to figure out your identity. Marinette just seemed like the best choice to help.”

“Because I look like Ladybug,” Marinette says, resigned, twirling some hair around her index finger.

“Well, yes. But there was more to it than that. You were the only person who offered to help me,” he tells her. “I don’t think anyone else would have in your position. You don’t know it, but you totally held me together over the past few days. I was freaking out big time before I ran into you and Alya, and then when you let me spend time with you at night… it helped so much.”

“That was more selfish on my part. I liked spending time with you,” says Marinette. “I guess now I know who I was missing so much, and why I felt better when you were here.” She scoffs at her past self and ruefully shakes her head. “I didn’t even know who you were and I _still_ missed you so much that it hurt.”

His throat tightens. “I missed you too.”

“You missed Ladybug,” she says with a curious look, and Chat shakes his head.

“No, I missed _you_. It was still you, but it wasn’t.” He frowns, frustrated that he can’t seem to articulate himself properly, and decides to just go for it. “Marinette, everything changed for me. Not just because I found out who you are, but because – I want you to know, I –”

Her finger presses over his lips, effectively silencing him. Chat looks helplessly into her suddenly close eyes, and then freezes when she whispers.

“I already know… Adrien.”


	30. Purrince

“You… what?” Chat squeaks, shocked.

Marinette sighs, biting her lip guiltily.

“She figured it out,” says Tikki, and Chat turns to her in surprise as Tikki flies up off the desk to hover in front of them. “It was always inevitable. The two of you were so close even as civilians, and I knew that it was going to happen soon. But do you want to know what the tipping point was?” Her smile is a perfect match for Plagg at his most mischievous, and Chat’s stomach turns upside down because he’s pretty sure that means this is his fault.

“Um…” 

“I had my suspicions about Adrien in the other world. You never said anything, but I strongly suspected that you were Chat Noir. That feeling didn’t go away when the akuma was defeated,” says Marinette.

“I… didn’t realize that,” Chat says, and Marinette smiles.

“You were also too curious about me and Adrien,” she adds. “That just made me more suspicious. Chat Noir wouldn’t have any reason to listen to a girl he doesn’t know go on about her boyfriend. But if Chat Noir _was_ that boyfriend…” She trails off meaningfully.

Chat’s face goes hot. “Ah, right. I mean, I could have been interested just because I’m a nice guy!”

Both Marinette and Tikki give him skeptical looks, but it’s Marinette who says, “But you weren’t. After everything went back to normal, I realized why Adrien had been acting so strangely. You didn’t get any new memories, did you? It was just you, in a world with no Ladybug.”

“Yeah. I didn’t know I was supposed to be texting you and stuff,” says Chat. And then once he _did_ know he still did a pretty shit job of keeping in contact with Marinette, but that was more because of his guilty conscience than anything else.

“I figured. I mean, I tried not to put two and two together, but…” She shrugs. “Too many things made sense to me one I got my memories back. Why Chat Noir wasn’t around when Aspik was. Why Chat Noir wasn’t there during Gorizilla. Even why Mister Bug was able to show up so fast that time our miraculous got switched around. It all just sort of… fell into place.”

“So you’re not mad I figured it out?” Chat asks, searching her face. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Tikki smile and retreat to give them privacy. He’s not sure whether that’s a good sign or not.

“No, of course not. I’m frustrated, and I’m a little upset that it didn’t happen on your terms, but…” Marinette blows out a breath, ruffling her bangs. “Chat, how could I be _mad_? I know you know how important the Ladybug miraculous is, but you trusted me with it anyway. That means a lot to me.”

“Well, you are our ‘Everyday Ladybug’,” he says dryly.

Marinette snorts, then giggles. “I almost had a heart attack when you called me that.”

“It was meant as the sincerest compliment I could give,” Chat tells her, and her face softens into a smile.

“I know it was, _Chaton_ ,” she says, and wow his heart does triple flips to hear that nickname coming out of Marinette’s mouth.

“Good,” he says, clearing his throat to cover up his flustered state. “Because… it was really hard without you.”

“I’m sorry. The akuma got the drop on me when after it pushed you off the building.” Marinette takes another step back, much to his disappointment.

“You’re okay, though?” he asks; now it’s his turn to look her over. For some reason, Marinette turns pink.

“I’m – I’m fine,” she says. “It didn’t even hurt. Everything just kind of faded away, and the next thing I knew I was on my way to meet Alya.” She rubs at her forehead. “The memories are already a little hazy. Tikki thinks that given time, they’ll probably fade until it’s more like a dream.”

“That’s probably not a bad thing,” says Chat. He looks at her for a few seconds until she lifts her head and meets his gaze. There’s another long moment where they both just stare at each other.

“Chat,” Marinette says in a tiny voice.

“I was a shitty boyfriend for ignoring you,” he blurts out, which is not at all how he meant to start even if it’s true. “I mean, I know that. But – but I’d really like the chance to know what it’s like to have you as my girlfriend for real if that’s something you think you’d like too.”

Marinette’s mouth drops open in surprise. Chat can’t tell if that’s a good response or not, so he decides to go for it. He summons up the suavest smile in his arsenal and leans in towards her, taking her hand.

“So how about it, My Lady? Care to have a _purr_ ince as your boyfriend?”


	31. Time travel

“You are the corniest person I have ever met,” Marinette says, but Chat is pleased to hear that she sounds a bit breathless even as she puts her finger on his nose and gently pushes him back a bit.

“Is that a no?” he asks, the corners of his mouth tugging down before he can stop himself. Suddenly awkward, he lets go of her hand and takes his own step back. 

Alya’s and Nino’s reactions earlier had given him hope, which he now regrets – hope is a dangerous thing. Despite how her reactions sometimes don’t match her words, Ladybug has always been firm on the fact that she doesn’t want to date Chat Noir. He’s tried to respect that, but he thought that might change once she knew who she was… maybe not.

“You stupid cat,” Marinette says, and he’s about to retort when she grabs his head and smashes their lips together.

Chat is in heaven.

He can’t think of any other word to describe it.

Marinette’s lips are soft and taste like the strawberry lip balm he’s watched Ladybug apply dozens of times. 

She smells like vanilla and cherries.

He jerks back. “This isn’t a dream, right?” he says, staring at her. “Or an akuma’s magic?”

“It’s real,” Marinette says, her eyes bright. 

“And you really – that’s a yes?” he says, hardly able to believe it.

She nods shyly. “I always liked Adrien,” she confesses quietly. “Chat Noir made that hard. I tried so hard not to think about you that way for a lot of reasons, but…”

“But…?” Chat whispers.

“I _missed_ you,” Marinette says, meeting his eyes again. “So much. It was driving me crazy. And when the akuma’s magic wore off and I remembered, all I could think about was how, in a world where there was no Ladybug, I’d been dating Adrien Agreste and _still_ had a crush on Chat Noir. I felt so guilty when you were here, like I was cheating on my boyfriend!” She groans and claps her hands to her face. “It was awful.”

“You had a crush on me?” Chat says, stunned. “Wait. _Still_?!”

She sighs at him. “Yes, still. Do you think I would let just any guy kiss my hand or call me ‘Bugaboo’?”

“You hate it when I call you that,” Chat says dazedly.

“It’s a stupid name!” Marinette huffs, crossing her arms. “But somehow… it’s a bit cute when it comes from you.” Her cheeks darken even as Chat grins.

“Cute, huh?” he says slyly, edging in towards her. 

“Don’t get full of yourself,” Marinette says, unmoved. “I said a bit.”

“You still said ‘cute’,” Chat says, putting his hands on her shoulders. She’s warm beneath the fabric of his gloves. 

“And I already regret it.”

“Don’t be like that, _Bugaboo_.”

“… I have _so_ many regrets right now. I might need to borrow the Rabbit miraculous for time travel.”

Chat laughs, a little crazy, secure in the knowledge that the sparkle in her eyes means she’s teasing. “You would never. Not if it means you can’t make Lila and Chloé jealous tomorrow by kissing Adrien Agreste right in front of them.”

“Hmm, that does sound intriguing,” Marinette admits, smiling up at him. “If I kissed you right now, would you pull away again?”

“I promise not to,” Chat says.

And so she does, and he doesn’t, and they kiss for several long, wonderful minutes until Chat feels like he’s going to float away. He rests his forehead against hers, breathing heavily, knowing that there’s a stupid smile on his face but unable to do anything about it. He’s just glad that Plagg isn’t around to mock –

“Oh, shit.”

“What?” Marinette says, pulling back to look at him in concern.

“Plagg is going to want a dozen wheels of Camembert,” Chat says, making a face.

Marinette raises her eyebrows. “Okay. Why?”

“Officially? For being a total pain in the ass,” Chat says indignantly. No wonder Plagg was laughing at him that night. 

“Sounds like there’s more to this story that I need to hear,” Marinette says, clearly intrigued.

“If you would only feed your poor, starving kitty, I’d happily tell you.”

“ _My_ kitty, huh?” she murmurs.

“Always,” Chat says gravely, taking her hand and kissing her knuckles. He’s gratified to see her face go a little red again.

“I guess I could drum up some cookies,” she says. “And I’d find some cheese for Plagg, but something tells me you don’t really want to see him right now.”

“I’ll stay transformed for now,” Chat agrees. The longer he can put off Plagg’s inevitable gloating, the better.

“Okay. I’ll be right back.” Marinette turns to go, but Chat tugs her back towards him before she can. He looks down at her, wondering how he ever could have been so blinded by Ladybug as to not see the beautiful woman standing before him – and yet he fell in love with her anyway, because she was just that amazing, and somehow she’s grown to reciprocate. He can’t help bending his head to kiss her again, loving the way she sighs and melts into his arms.

Black cats are supposed to be bad luck, but Chat Noir is the luckiest goddamn cat who ever walked the streets of Paris.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so, with that, Marichat May is done. Thank you so much for all the comments and kudos. 
> 
> Tomorrow starts Ladrien June, and I hope that all of you will join me for it.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr](https://tsuki-chibi.tumblr.com/).


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